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onewomancitadel · 3 years ago

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How do you feel about other ships that could potentially threaten Knightfall? Theres the possibility of them pushing White Knight since they're the only characters at the moment who aren't paired up yet but some people are also suggesting that Silent Knight is also possible because both Jaune & Neo have lost a partner and think Jaune will help Neo with that but theres the other possibility that Rose Garden is just a red herring like Black Sun and they were preparing for Lancaster the whole time.

Sorry if this turns up in the ship main tags. I censor ship names in the body of text to stop that. Tumblr can be a bit silly sometimes, but I'm a Jaune/Cinder shipper and I only speak of Blake/Yang and Ruby/Oscar positively here.

Thanks for your ask anon, it's kind of a big topic and this post got very long but I hate using cuts because they're so annoying (for me as a reader). Hope you enjoy.

This is where I started writing and I was so salty:

Jaune/Neo is not remotely a canon possibility and it's absurd to consider it, I'm shocked it's taken seriously at all and Jaune/Cinder is treated like a crackship.

I get that Neo is sort of a cult favourite, but don't attribute narrative importance to her where there isn't any. It's fine if you ship it, but I'm discussing canon here!

If anything I think her most important arc is obviously in relation to Ruby (forgiveness arc in the Fallen Place?) and her fractured partnership with Cinder is a dark echo of Ruby and Weiss, as @branwyns has pointed out. So, in how she's been brought back, it's in service to Ruby's struggle.

I also don't know what position Jaune's going to be in, if he's going to be able to offer Neo anything when he's sort of in the middle of an identity crisis. If there is anything there, though, I don't see how it's suggestive of a romance, especially given that Neo's a minor side character. Jaune's a very important character, he's one of the two major male protagonists, his love interest has to be someone important.

I wouldn't call Blake/Sun a red herring as such.

I think it's a childhood romance alike to Jaune/Pyrrha, Ruby/Penny which doesn't survive, and toys with anime tropes. Like Jaune/Pyrrha isn't really fairytale True Love and everything is sad, Ruby/Penny doesn't really happen because the shoujo love interest has bigger things to do (also her Snow Maiden allusion is another post, but the Snow Maiden dies when she finally truly loves someone - Winter, platonic in this case), Blake/Sun ends up being a friendship because it doesn't have, again, intense fairytale True Love (and in a lot of ways I think Blake/Sun is similar to Jaune/Pyrrha, but whatever), and so on and so forth. Jaune/Weiss is also the aborted childhood romance. So on and so forth.

I think that Blake/Yang is probably the romantic key to understanding the rest of the ships, which is that it's a) intense and vulnerable, b) answers thematic questions in the series (Salem/Ozma, Raven/Tai so team STRQ), c) directly plays with the Beauty and the Beast intertextuality and d) also has all of that magical colour matching and union of opposites. Most importantly, I get the sense that the Beauty and the Beast it plays with in the context of the romance is the older, extant French textual source (Beaumont).

The Jaune and Ruby friendship is one of the things I really like in the show, and no, I don't think they're setting up for a romance on that front. Whilst him mercy-killing Penny can lead to some dramatic angst to fulfill criteria a), I think here it's more to suggest their ideological split as respective leaders. In terms of b), there might be more argument here, but then again I don't think Tai and Summer were all that romantically involved and there was sus stuff going on with Ruby's conception. (A baby born of utilitarian need who then becomes dearly loved/must draw on the memory of her mother to use her inherited power is very thematically ironic and interesting).

And on that front, Ruby and Oscar are a 50/50 Salem/Ozma split respectively, whereas pretty much structurally Jaune is a straight up Ozma and Cinder's a straight up Salem, which again, is why they pair better if you're addressing that.

In terms of c) they share no intertextuality. It might be argued on this front Ren and Nora don't, but in their case I'm pretty sure their intertextuality, like the childhood romances, is anime itself, and they're the one endgame romantic example (but involves a reconstruction of the trope with Nora's separation).

And if we're going Jungian, Jaune and Cinder are Ruby and Oscar's archetypical Shadows. That's more evidence for that pairing up.

Regarding the canonicity of Ruby and Oscar, well, a) there's now separation and intensity given the end of V8, with potential Cupid and Psyche elements b) I'm not even sure if I have to cover how they answer Salem/Ozma as fluffy happy children meeting again and fixing the mess, also I think Ruby getting a happy ending answers Summer's bad ending, c) intertextually, the Little Prince (one of Oscar's allusions) loved a rose. The RG's have way more on this than me but this alone is enough. Also d), which is a lesser point, red/green and silver/gold are match lol. No one else pairs with her silver like that.

So yeah, I think RG and Knightfall will probably happen in respect to one another, alike to their confrontations in V5 being very similar.

Now to address Jaune/Weiss. I have some complicated feelings about this topic because I have read meta which addresses the alchemical element of this pairing, but to be quite honest I don't really want to stir up drama in terms of how I disagree with that. More prominently I want to point out that two major Jaune/Weiss interactions both feature Cinder and it's very very suspicious to me. This could be a separate post and I have posted about it before to some degree, but I sort of think Jaune/Weiss might actually be the red herring.

Of course, a lot of people who aren't otherwise interested in their characters or only just a bit take this as totally endgame, and if you have a different opinion you're probably just a crazy shipper. Whilst I am crazy, I think that framing Jaune/Weiss as the only reasonable narrative answer misses a majority of the thematic concerns in the show.

Okay, I'll just put it in this post: Jaune fully realises his Semblance when he saves Weiss. It's a big moment, right? This should basically indicate to us that they'll end up together. Let me readdress my criteria: a) he saves her like he couldn't Pyrrha, so maybe fulfills vulnerability/intensity, b) Weiss is a Salem/Ozma split, Jaune's more of a straight up Ozma; Weiss is a STRQ Qrow, and Jaune's a Tai... c) no intertextuality, other than maybe Jaune being the Huntsman in her story. Blake has a few Beasts, so we can double up on the Huntsman front (Weiss is both Snow White and a Huntress, and she has her own knight). In terms of d), one of the lesser points, their colours don't go together.

So I'm just going to supply these screencaps:

Jaune never mentions Weiss in particular. Not necessarily a huge deal: I'm contrasting this with Blake and Adam, and one of the things that really made me convinced Blake/Yang was a thing

Adam, the sacrificial bull (I'm not sure if the Campbellian bull-leaping in V6 was intentional, but if it were, then it was a sacred marriage for Yang and Blake) is not the same as Cinder. I think the contrast is purposeful.

I think there might be some intentional foiling with Blake/Adam, where Adam is the straight up irredeemable enemy love interest and Cinder isn't - like, the way she responds to Emerald and Mercury leaving is not with possessive jealousy and murderous rage.

Going back to the big daddy, Salem/Ozma, as above. Again, I view Jaune/Cinder as a regenerative answer to Salem/Ozma.

Anyway, Cinder targets Weiss. Earlier in that sequence, Jaune doesn't make specific mention of Pyrrha. Cinder only has reason in this sequence to target an apparent love interest because that's her narrative role to do (and what everybody expects).

It's probably easy to brush off Cinder being involved as just the baddie causing trouble but basically the entire thrust is Jaune and Cinder's interaction; Jaune and Weiss don't really have much to say to each other and it doesn't carry the same romantic relief Blake and Yang do! If anything, I think confronting Jaune's self-sacrifice, Cinder's worldview, and their respective spiritual evolution and subsequent fall is like, the whole point. There's nothing that really feeds into Weiss' character arc here, that's why I remain puzzled; it's a big deal for Jaune, because he learns how to be protective, and it's a big deal for Cinder, because she's had the whole, 'They matter!' thing thrown right in her face, and also she's using a sword like Rhodes so she's in a bit of a personal crisis.

The underestimated thing here is that conflict with his anima here leads to him realising his Semblance, which is the purpose of anima confrontation (spiritual evolution)... so in the background there's Jaune/Cinder stuff going on. Which is why, given what they did with Blake/Sun, Blake/Adam, Blake/Yang, I'm sensing something odd here.

The second sequence, which notably involves Jaune and Cinder's fight over Penny, of course has him kill Penny to stop Cinder hurting Weiss again. That should be indicative, again, of Jaune/Weiss. But I'd expect there to be something again here, but instead the focus is on Jaune and Cinder. I don't know how else to describe this, but all of the angst and pain of Penny is not a concern in Weiss' character. Weiss knows what's happened, though, and it's fair to say she'll be involved in helping establish what happened with the others, but how that goes remains to be seen and is a totally separate topic. But if we're leaning hard on Tai and Qrow there, well, Tai and Qrow clearly have something going on in the sense of a personal dispute.

But the part I want to focus on is where Jaune is helping Weiss to safety which has, um, how shall we say

someone looking verrrrrrrrrrrrry upset - borderline jealous? - and I get that Cinder doesn't like Weiss because Weiss represents all of the failings of Atlas, but wow, that's insanely clever to make your romantic rival also represent everything you hate and rebel against.

You could argue here if you're a naysayer this is about her fucking with Winter, but Cinder's made no indication here that this is about fucking with Winter. This seems personal.

It would probably be easy to say that this is just setting up Jaune/Weiss with unrequited feelings on Cinder's part for Jaune, and then some confrontation ala Adam, but Cinder's not abusive towards Jaune. Also, what would unrequited feelings narratively achieve? In the case of Blake/Sun, Sun's feelings lead to a type of selflessness which helps him mature, and in the Vacuo arc I think that will become relevant, especially if you-know-who's a Maiden. In the case of Jaune/Weiss, his unrequited feelings for her are meshed with the pressure he feels to fulfill a particular masculine ideal. (Which is more evidence against the ship).

Cinder and Jaune have never been in a relationship, there's no trust to break, the only hurt between them is as enemies, and even then when they actually fight they barely hurt each other. In some ways I think the writers are sort of aware that like, yes they need to be enemies but there are probably people who would be upset if they did actually meaningfully harm each other directly, beyond Pyrrha and Weiss who serve narrative roles.

Jaune only chips her mask. She breaks his sword. That's the real harm they do to one another, it's transformative.

So if Cinder's being set up for a redemption arc where Adam isn't, then I think it's probably fair to argue that Jaune/Cinder is being set up as a positive relationship.

Also on this front, Adam was not one of the lead antagonists, he didn't carry the same special narrative role Cinder does as Ruby's Shadow and the Fall Maiden. So to say that her story will play out exactly the same as his when it's been contrasted purposefully is just silly. I mean, he has that big manipulative reveal of his scars to Blake, and it's obvious to us he did that to her a lot.

Meanwhile Cinder's own past, what others know of it, is used against her by Salem and Watts to manipulate and hurt her. So yes she's a very naughty villainess, but she's not an Adam.

I would make the argument here that of the three pairings - Blake/Sun, Blake/Yang, Blake/Adam - Jaune's equivalent three - Jaune/Weiss, Jaune/Pyrrha, Jaune/Cinder - follow a similar, but slightly different pattern.

Firstabble, the anime trope romance which is reconstructed: Jaune/Pyrrha, Blake/Sun

Secondabble, the historical romance which was one-sided: Jaune/Weiss, Blake/Adam

Thirdabble, the endgame fairytale true love: Blake/Yang, Jaune/Cinder.

So yeah I think Jaune/Weiss is only endgame if they decide to be really boring, play into vomit 'nice guy waiting for girl' trope for some bizarre reason that the show has broadly rejected, and decide to break the entire thematic and mechanical thrust of the show.

Let me quickly fit Jaune/Cinder into that earlier ship paradigm: a) very very intense and vulnerable, b) they are literally just straight up Salem and Ozma in reverse, they're even framed the same way, and also Raven/Tai, not explaining anymore but that's the same as Blake/Yang too, c) intertextually, Jaune's been set up as somebody's Prince Charming, and the bloke who cheated into a fucking Huntsman academy and was ostensibly a shit one being the real and best Huntsman/Prince for Cinder's story is endlessly, endlessly amusing. There's also all of the Rhodopis stuff (alike to Blake and Yang's allusion background) I have gone on about ad nauseam and then Jaune's own Joan of Arc influence involves crowns and a saint whom she hears from breaking out from the belly of Satan to free herself, so like, please do not get me started. Then, d), which is the lesser point and why I'm including it but not making a big fuss, Jaune and Cinder's colours oddly match, but it depends how hard you lean on her pin being indicative of her future colours (purple and blue), given that she's transitioned into black. But the orange and blue eyes do match so you can't take this away from me.

I also think that, like Blake/Yang was a pleasant surprise, Jaune/Cinder has the potential to be a pleasant and interesting twist. It's just the most interesting story you could tell, and I think we're due for something transcendentally happy, since that's the direction the show is going in. To be honest, I think that this is the long way around to Salem's happy ending. It's fitting to me that analogues of her in the story also fulfill that in some way.

So yeah I actually think the reason Jaune/Cinder has a chance is sort of exactly because people underestimate it and don't expect it. It makes perfect sense, though. It's very very very clever and I like it a lot.

I mean, where are we right now in the story? Cinder has recommitted to trying to be clever and smart and manipulative, even turning it on her own master. Jaune's mercy-killed Penny, the healer with bloody hands. There are some peope who think Cinder's redemption arc has been rejected, some who think Jaune won't have any angst or pain. I think there's something interesting to do with their respective characters from here. If they redeem Cinder, it almost definitely has to involve him. Everybody before him, Rhodes, Salem, Emerald, Mercury, Watts, only ever wanted something from her or of her. Staying quiet and doing as she's told, and enduring imprisonment. Imprisoning her again under the guise of a false freedom. Safety, food, love, shelter. Watts, his own motive and ends (no idea how people think him interacting with her was the point of no return for her morality). All of these failed attempts should indicate she can't be redeemed, right?

After all, how many tried to climb the tower to free the maiden?

But all of them only wanted something from her: her hand, the riches, the glory. There was just one knight who didn't care about any of that, and only did it because it was the right thing, and then they fell in love.

Which pairing am I talking about? (:

#seraphina's asks #user: anonymouse #knightfall #long post

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sharpen-jadescythe · 4 years ago

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Sharpen And His Butterflies

I was going to keep this one about Sharpen’s innermost feelings to myself, but then I saw that Jiroki’s character, who has so many beautiful sad moments, might enjoy a very sweet story.

Sharpen left her side at dawn. Well, he didn't exactly leave. He looked the Kaldorei woman over for several long minutes, the longest in all of their date together it felt, and decided that he'd better let her sleep, rather than pester her for romance a third time. Beautiful long legs, sea green hair… Anyway, Sharpen was already starting to feel guilty about not getting Jiroki breakfast at a decent hour.

He said to himself, "Well, I'm whipped already then. And I think I like it." Sharpen felt his thick neck, joking quietly, "And so, where did I put my collar again?"

Sharpen had kept his deep admiration for Jiroki a carefully guarded secret, for months. But then things got very silly indeed, when he realized he was even resisting telling her about it…

And so, of course, after Jiroki agreed to spend time with him? Everything about their first date got planned carefully. In fact, Sharpen had run out of time, he'd been making such detailed, anxious arrangements. He knew where everything was supposed to be, mostly. And what to do. But Sharpen felt an idiot now, recalling how he paced at his home in front of the mirror, going over a couple key things to tell Jiroki, rehearsing that. The one thing he couldn’t quite get to? Sharpen thought he might pitch their camp in about that area, near the waterfall. Just not the exact spot. He rushed, giving the Goblins down in Booty Bay instructions. They offered some ‘romantic lovebirds getaway package’. He remembered going, “Fine, yes. I’ll have that. Whatever it costs…” Sharpen hated to leave that one part about the tent, the most important part, to the Goblins. But, lucky him—lucky for both of them, it went very well. The view of the crystal ocean and the green, green trees was stunning. And the ivory tent couldn’t have been more enticing, lit by so many heavenly candles the night before. Now he’d made it to the morning after. So… cool. A success, right? So why did he feel so nervous, even moreso than before?

Jiroki seemed like she might stay sleeping for at least a few more hours. Hopefully, through all his careful effort, he’d given her peaceful dreams. Right? Him waking up first and her still snoozing away mid-morning was a good thing? Wasn’t it?

Why did he feel like he’d somehow ruined things? What if she screamed at him when she got up? But why would she even do that?

Sharpen raised green eyebrows, wondering if he was going nuts. Possibly, yes. Food. Go get some food, Sharpen. You need to eat. In fact, where were the coffee trees?

Hot coffee doesn’t grow on trees, Sharpen. Not like that!

On the very morning he worked his ass off months for, Sharpen ignored his nervous thinking and did not sleep in with the woman he adored. He decided to just… just keep busy. The Night Elf man dutifully took his shotgun and went off to forage. He did a preliminary sweep around the campsite, ensuring no dangerous creatures would be about while he was gone and Jiro slept. After, Sharpen hiked for a mile or so. He knew where the avocado tree was, and the fig tree up on the other hill. He found mangoes--he considered bananas, but they weren't all that romantic for breakfast and there were terrible spiders up banana trees, usually. Sharpen went out his way for citrus. He smelled a passionfruit tree and was completely right about the ripe fruit. Pairs of tropical birds and buzzing insects were already visiting the spot, having their breakfast. Maybe it was silly, but a pair of flirtatious green parrots reminded him of Jiro and himself. One was getting groomed, unusually patient for a parrot. The other was frantic about getting it exactly right, all the little feathers on the top of her poor head. She looked like a female to him. Knowing parrots, it was bound to erupt into something squawking, loud and passionate any moment. For now, though, both were being unnaturally good.

All of the fruit got tossed in a netted bag Sharpen slung over his shoulder. His walk eventually brought him down to the beach. He slipped off his shorts and speedo and walked naked into the water. Sharpen used a bit of soap to help cleanse himself. It was the same, but then again it was not. It delighted him to pass the white wedge of soap over biceps that she gripped, the chest that turned her on. His abs… lower… how many times had she called him a beast? Her beast?

“Tiger…” he repeated Jiroki’s nickname for him. He’d earned it so fast. Yes, she made him feel like a tiger. Another thing, tigers could swim very well. Sharpen dove underwater. His head, shoulders, his back, then the curve of his wet buttocks silvered in a flare of hot sunshine and he went under the blue waves. The Night Elf’s skin was a coral color, usually. His naked body made a vibrant blaze beneath the water as he made athletic strokes beneath the falls.

Salt water in his love bites stung. But he liked that Jiro had done that to him. With her cute little fangs. He got turned on several times, fantasizing while swimming. But Sharpen was a very skilled swimmer in his own right. He managed to stay focused on what he was doing and not swim out too far. He wished Jiroki was there with him, swimming like last night.

Sharpen remembered how she looked in the water from below, how her thighs looked as she treaded water and was certainly wondering where he’d gone to. Right before Sharpen used powerful strokes to suddenly seize her at the surface, slide fingertips up those very tempting, creamy thighs, and tickle her. Only tickle her. He had wanted to do so much more, but Sharpen remembered telling himself to hold back.

Not to touch her, not too much.

Then, of course, he couldn’t stand it and grabbed Jiroki the moment she stepped foot on the beach with him. He played like he was only teasing. She soon learned how much he meant it.

Returned now to the beach, Sharpen dressed alone, completely unbraided his hair to dry it, and had a seat. He gazed across the water at the very spot of their actual dinner date, and where they'd made love. Where he caught Jiroki fish for supper. All for the first time. Sharpen wondered if there would be more times, and how many? Wasn’t it too complicated? Ash and burned stones from the campfire were still there, far across the water.

Sharpen tried to live in the moment. "Eggs. If I can poach some, way out here in the middle of nowhere? She'll be totally impressed. And of course, I have the rest of that salsa I used..."

Back at the tent above the waterfall, Sharpen indulged in one last quiet moment by the fire. He'd sliced everything with his hunting knife and it was arranged beautifully on one large banana leaf. He was down to the last one. The other, he accidentally dropped over the cliff edge. Sharpen eventually turned so that he could no longer see it floating away off into the crystal ocean way, way down there.

Well, that meant he was out of supplies, finally. This was going to end. It had to. He couldn’t keep her out here, even if he wanted. He was going back to his home and she would return to hers. Another thing nagged at him, which seemed unfair. He was craving a lot more alone time with her, possibly too much. He had no idea that they'd be so compatible in that aspect and he was finding her irresistible. He never wanted to stop. She was experienced and creative and free with herself in this... perfect way. Sharpen could feel himself smiling now, it almost hurt.

Thought cleared from the Night Elf man’s mind as lust took over. Thankfully, a part of him that had camped a thousand times knew it was about time to take the small pan he'd brought off of the hot stones near the campfire, then use a knife to help tip the eggs onto the leaf. He routinely scraped the last of his homemade salsa from its jar, right ontop.

An elegant jungle breakfast. Yes, again, he'd done everything right.

But now, Sharpen was afraid to take it in to her.

A white butterfly came and landed at the edge of the leaf. It was so sweet and small, Sharpen didn't have the heart to shoo it away. Then, it fluttered up in drunken arcs over their meal, in a sunbeam. Just as fast, it swifted right into the tent. Sharpen decided to abandon what he was doing. Why not enjoy being irresponsible and follow it? He went inside the tent just in time to see the little butterfly alight on Jiro's shoulder. The tiny thing opened and closed its wings, perfectly content.

"...She is sweet, isn't she?" Sharpen confided in the butterfly. "And you chose her over all the other flowers in the forest. What a compliment.” Then, he couldn’t resist coming out with it, “Maybe I’m the same way. I find myself worrying about… I just want to make her happy. Sometimes, she seems so sad and I just want to make her so very happy."

Sharpen lay back down and placed a hand on Jiro's naked hip. He didn't want to disturb Jiroki, or his friend the butterfly at all.

He watched it, and the butterfly watched him, until suddenly it flitted up into the air and danced away. Sharpen wondered if he was really going to let Jiro’s perfect breakfast sit out there and get covered with flies. Was he that petty about having to wake her up and eventually leave their little love nest?

Sharpen sighed at himself and turned to lay on his back. His wavy green hair, everywhere. It went down to his waist.

Then, some other feeling Sharpen made him look up, a hunter’s instinct that they weren’t exactly alone. At the top of the tent, there were small white butterflies everywhere, resting or playing and flirting with each other, flickering gray and white or silver in the pale dawn light. Those aromatic red flowers he tied to the beams for decoration (the Goblins did a good enough job, but it needed some ‘Night Elf-ing up’ as Sharpen explained to the irritated workmen), that had attracted the butterflies... So. He’d tried to clear the area of wandering tigers, monkeys an hour earlier. But he didn't think to defend his lover against a swarm of butterflies. Well, Sharpen couldn’t. And they were so beautiful.

Sharpen decided to rest and not to worry. Everything he'd secretly done, everything he felt, everything he knew about himself regarding her but couldn't say...

There was no stopping it anyway, no denying it. And it wasn’t wrong. It would reveal itself and settle on everything and be sweet. This… particular problem, it wasn't like rain or a storm that you could just take shelter from. Love was more of a ‘get over it or get under it’ type of thing. So he'd better go on and make up his mind how he was going to handle this. And not waste any more time. Unless he wanted to worry about maybes and what ifs forever. Meanwhile, the real elements, wind, rain, beasts, would eat Jiro’s breakfast.

"And love is a force of nature too, people forget that..."

Caring about someone. That wasn’t a weakness. In a way, wasn’t it also… Yes, it was. It was power. Then, louder so she could hear him, "Jiroki? Wake up, darling. Breakfast is ready. And look what you attracted to our tent all on your own, you sweet foxy thing you."

At last Jiroki turned over to face him. She opened her eyes. Once a Sentinel, a former Watcher, Jiroki sensed the tension in him, didn’t miss a thing. “What’s gone wrong?”

Or, you could go straight through love. Let it pummel you from all sides.

Sharpen smiled easily, figured he could take it.

“Nothing, really. Jiroki, did I ever tell you--being near you always gave me butterflies?” He pointed up above, to the red flowers and all their new friends.

“Sharpen! Awww…”

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is0gild · 5 years ago

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WHY I SHIP IT

You know the whole "Opposites Attract" trope? Yeah, that. I'm weak for that. A total slut for opposites attracting. Turns my knees to jelly. It's my crack. Just stick that shite into an IV straight to my veins! And these two? Got opposites coming out the wazoo!

Ice and Fire. Duh.

Introvert and extrovert. Quiet, shy girl with snarky, outgoing guy? Unf, that murders me with feels. To be fair, Elsa is not a TOTAL recluse - she’s a total sweetheart who can still hold a friendly conversation, but she's hardly the life of the party attention whore. No, that'd be THAT guy *points to lovable fire dork*

Light (Princess of Heart just trying to do her best) and Dark (Former-Nobody with a redemption arc). PS, to any Frozen fans who might be confused, “Princess of Heart” and “Nobody” are Kingdom Hearts terms - either see my Axel/Lea Cliff Notes for further deets or consult your nearest, handy-dandy KH glossary of terms.

Highborn Queen and Sly Assassin. Oof, it almost sounds so deliciously forbidden when you put it that way. Me like.

She tends to be Ms Glass-Half-Empty and he tends to be Mr Glass-Half-Full. Put there 2 half glasses together tho and you get a full glass ;D Was that hella cheesy? Yup! Think I care? Nope! Now don’t get me wrong, neither of them 100% own up to those titles - she has MORE than her fair share of bright moments, as he too has his Sad Boi™ moments. Still, they do both have a tendency to lean into those nicknames and boy howdy would it be cute watching him be the one bring a smile to her face when she’s down :3

She smol, he tol. Like, for real... he's one seriously tall boi. No official heights out there as far as I’m aware, but fan calculations put Elsa at 5'4" and Axel/Lea at either 6'4" or 6'7" (from two different sources, two different fans, take your pick). Either way, he's got at least a foot on her and just... oof! I swoon! I know, this is mega superficial, but I really don't care. It's aesthetically pleasing to me. These 2 very beautiful peeps being put together is just in general aesthetically pleasing to me.

OPPOSITES!

ATTRACTING!

Doesn't always work, but when it's done well, it can be so beautiful T_T Just love the idea of two personalities so different but that complement and balance each other out so well and help make up for what the other lacks! Ahhh, opposites attracting... that's how I wanna die *wistful, far-off, starry-eyed look*

ANYWAY! It's not all about the opposites! These two actually have a lot in common too!

They're both royal dumbasses that would (and legit DID) sacrifice themselves for their loved ones without hesitation!

They're both brave! Okay, it takes a bit of time for Elsa to come into her own courage, but by Frozen 2, our ice queen's got it in GODDAMN SPADES YO!

They’re both silly dorks with sassy, playful sides! Fire Boi wears his dorkitude on his sleeve whereas Ice Bab is a lil more shy about showing hers, but trust me, I could write a whole friggin' ESSAY on that side of her just lousy with examples! ...but I'll refrain from doing that here for the sake of not turning this "why I ship it" bit into instead being "an ode to Elsa's silliness" :P

He's an impulsive lil shit! She is too, but her impulsiveness is slightly, mind you SLIGHTLY more tempered. She'd probably do some good in reeling the big doofus in from time to time. That said, he'd still end up probably dragging her off on many adventures that she would only put on a show of mildly resisting.

Leading into my next point: they're both adventurous! C'mon, Elsa has a whole damn song about being drawn to the unknown! While Axel/Lea, well... that boy could change his self-proclaimed middle name "Dark Rescue" to "Dumbass Thrillseeker".

Smarts! They both got 'em! He's more street-smarts whereas she's more book-smarts... so this one is kinda sorta both a same AND an opposite? FANCY!

They'd both be ABSOLUTELY CLUELESS when it came to romantic love and this makes me cackle. SHE has been suppressing her emotions and trying not to have so much as one single solitary FEEL for 13 years. HE has had no heart for 10 years during which time he LITERALLY could not feel emotions. Don't worry, she's no longer suppressing and he's got the ol' ticker back, so they're both doing the whole emotions thing again, but they're both such goddamn NEWBS when it comes to feelings that they probably wouldn't know a romantic inkling if one came up and slapped them in their gorgeous faces! So just picture it: these two idiots falling in love and just being all DAFUQ IS THIS??? I THINK MY HEART ITCHES??? I DON'T UNDERSTAND HALP.

On a final-ish note that is neither really opposites nor similarities, they both canonically exist in the same universe within Kingdom Hearts, so even though they haven't actually met yet, they could still theoretically meet and it'd still be 100% kosher canon! And okay sure, Disney worlds in KH are basically AUs of their movie counterparts so just cuz Elsa exists in Axel/Lea's franchise, doesn't mean Axel/Lea exists in Elsa's franchise. BUT STILL! I just love that there IS a canon universe where they do in fact both exist and could in fact meet and I JUST THINK THAT'S BEAUTIFUL.

That's it. That's all I got for now. I'm sure I'll come up with more and will return to add on to this, but to sum it all up: I just want to smoosh my fire and ice bbies cute widdle faces together :3 My my, how STEAMY that would be (huh? huh? see what I did there? cuz, ya know, she’s ice and he’s… ehhhh, I think you guys get it)

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ctl-yuejie · 5 years ago

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For the untamed ask game 5, 8, 10, 17, 16, 19, 21 35, 46 and 55

5. Biggest WTF momentThe golden core reveal in the book! ( read it before the drama so I don’t know how much I’d have been surprised without prior knowledge watching the scene in the series). Maybe I didn’t pay enough attention, but from what I remember I wasn’t even sure that Wei Wuxian had lost his Golden Core at that point. So I was extremely shocked by the reveal and also very excited because it made his past actions much more understandable and his dynamic with both Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji got even more interesting.

8. Most Confusing Part In The Storyon my first read i had a hard time remembering all characters so i think i zoned out a lot when the story didn’t focus on wangxian, so not necessarily a particular part of the story that confused me but i was just not paying enough attention. also: the timeline is random af.

10. Favourite Fanfic Set-Up Uhhhh!!! I love me powerful Yiling Patriarch stories where he survives the second sunshot campaign and anything and everything that focuses on the Yunmeng brothers relationship after canon. Also: every fanfic about the WangXian family regardless of universe.some great “bamf!wei wuxian survives the second sunshot campaign and adopts everyone”

16. Favourite Habitwei wuxian talking non-stop about lan wangji after they’ve met. so much so that the whole jiang family (read: jiang cheng) is super annoyed by it.

17. Purer Cinnamon Role Than Wen Ning (sorry for all these typos in the ask game) hmmmm…Wen Ning is pretty much peak pure cinnamon roll, but from the younger generation Ouyang Zizhen might even out-perform him. sure he is loud and direct, but also doesn’t know how to act in most social situations because the world is such a happy place for him and did you know that Hanguang-Jun and Senior Mo are dating and they’re not as dramatic about it as I want them to be but still super cute, and wtf Hanguang-Jun is now married to the Yiling Patriarch and all my dreams have come true, i have no idea why Lan Qiren looks so constipated maybe that’s because of Jingyi…..19. Cinnamon Role Meme (4 Characters) 21. A Fanon You Like hmmmm….this is pretty much canon but WangXian adopting everyone and everything while roaming the country & Wei Wuxian managing to cultivate MO Xuanyu’s core.and the lan wangji played inquiry for 16 years fanon. not because i think lan wangji would try and bind wei wuxian’s spirit to him but more so to find out whether he’s at peace and at some point it becomes this tiny remembrance song he plays for wei ying once a year.

35. Who Is The Biggest Disaster many disasters in this one but maybe Jin Zixuan??? i think he is so lucky for Jiang Yanli to be persistent in her love for him and MianMian intervening to clear up some misunderstandings…left on his own he really is a sad disaster.

but there’s some tough competition from wei wuxian, jiang cheng, jinling and more…

46. Favourite Fanfic / A Fanfic You Want To Recommendprepare yourself! (if not stated otherwise it’s wangxian)

since then i am because you are by sarahyyy (very short, fluff, oblivious wei wuxian & marriage)

overcast by willowcatkin (middle-length, canon divergence, role revearsal, accidental child acquisition)

and so my heart beats wildly by lily_winterwood (long fic, modern au with cultivation as an olympic sport, wangxian are competitors)

The (Several) Convenient Kidnappings of the Chief Cultivator by the Yiling Patriarch by misscam (short, some silly sexy fun)

your heart, two doors down by ficklish (middle-length, modern au, wangxian are neighbours, single parent! wei wuxian)

A Little Happiness by Suspicious_Popsicle (middle-length, post-canon, lan wangji turns into a child, everyone panics & wei wuxian just wants him to be happy)

asymptotic by chinxe (middle-length, canon divergence, lan wangji plays inquiry, that is how he encounters wei wuxian for the first time, beautiful but it also hurts)

transcendent by hyunbyun (short, wei wuxian is insecure about being in mo xuanyu’s body, domestic fluff)

Continuation by thefaceofno (long fic, post the untamed canon, hair brushing, some more pining but happy end)

i’d be all right (if i could just see you) byThirtySixSaveFiles (long fic, college au, wei wuxian is an idiot and takes lan wangji to a party)

Libation by BastetCG (middle-length, gods au, tentacle sex but in a very innovative way)

a lot can come from being in love with your captain bythefaceofno (long fic, part of a series, star trek au, various pairings, action & romance)

How Wei Ying Went from Oblivious Idiot to Shameless Boyfriend in Three Days by misscam (middle-length, college au, wei wuxian is oblivious but tries to be oh so helpful when lan wangji seems to have a crush on someone)

Adventures in Solitude by etymologyplayground (short, hurt/comfort, the untamed episode 16 canon divergence, lan wangji tries to come to the aid of yunmeng)

every time we kiss i swear i could fly by sarahyyy (short, kissing booth college au, lan wangji has a misunderstanding and is sad but all is well)

The Last Three Feet by etymologyplayground (middle-length, wangxian are oblivious, domestic downtime in cloud recesses with sizhui)

A Start on How by misscam (middle-lenght, college au, sleepovers!!, lan brother feels)

critical path analysis by chinxe (long fic, b99 au, hilarious perfection, it is scary how well the characters fit)

dirty politics by sarahyyy (short, politics au, wangxian are in a secret relationship but oh so wonderful together)

Rumor Doesn’t Have It (But Wei Wuxian Is Determined to Change That) by misscam (middle-length, post the untamed canon, everyone is weighing in on the relationship of the yiling patriarch and the chief cultivator, maybe wei wuxian should make some of the rumours come true)

Found Family by tulirepo (short, hurt/comfort, lan wangji finds ah-yuan on burial mounds, all the found family feels)

i want your heart to be for me by ThirtySixSaveFiles for sealdog (middle-lenght, wangxian soulmate au but set in canon, usually not a soulmate au reader but the concept is tied in super nicely into the story here)

to recollect and long for by mme_anxious (middle-length, all the found family and ah-yuan feels, hurt/comfort)

Grand Pianos Crash Together by etymologyplayground (long fic, post canon, wangxian find back together: an epic)

grief; the stages of by synonemous (sussiekitten) (long fic, the whole story in a modern setting, stuck in early 2000 wei wuxian is hilarious)

Sleeping in Paradise by daiki (middle-length fic, thematic fic, wei wuxian survives the sunshot campaign, jiang yanli lives, jin rulan’s relationship to the mysterious sleeping person at lotus cove)

What Rests on Tea by Gotcocomilk (long fic, yunmeng feels, jiang yanli & jin zixuan live, inventor!wei wuian, some great hurt/comfort)

and i will go this way by detention_notes (long fic, post-canon, wangxian write each other letters, wei wuxian travels with lesbians and harrasses friends and family on his roadtrip)

Not Just Netflix and Chill (Or Lan Zhan’s Lack of Grasp of Euphemisms) by misscam (short, modern au, lan wangji is the cutest and wei wuxian is helplessly in love)

These Things Stay the Same by notevenyou (modern au, war zone/disaster zone journalist! wei wuxian, sizhui feels!!!!!)

works in progress (they are all very, very good)

a stone to break your soul, a song to save it by rikke (long, almost finished, arranged marriage to save the yiling patriarch, yunmeng bro feels)

Death of a Ghost by Gotcocomilk (long, wei wuxian materializes as a ghost after his death, major yunmeng feels, he raises all the children)

Flowers of Blood and Bone by Sakurafubuki (AriasOfSnow) (long, vampire/vampire hunter au, a lot of action, great world building, crafty!wei wuxian, vampire!lan wangji)

I will surrender (myself to this moment in time) by Naamah_Beherit (long, post-canon, wei wuxian wakes up in gusu but has no idea how he got there, angst (with promised happy ending), lan sizhui calling wei wuxian father feels, wei wuxian gets confronted by the darkness in his life)

Lying on the Edge of a Star by Suspicious_Popsicle (long, slow-burn, wei wuxian falls into young lan wangji’s courtyard who is falling fast and deep, pity that to wei wuxian humans are but a fleeting existence)

please forgive my most passionate disruptions by pumpkinpaix (scribogenesis) (long, modern college au, wei wuxian is a stripper, lan wangji binds himself by his family’s old customs, marvelous character study, all the lan/yunmeng/wen sibling feels)

The storm comes and goes (and I keep walking) by Naamah_Beherit (long, wei wuxian survives the second sunshot campaign and roams the country as a rogue cultivator, he adopts all the children)

55. A Story-Arc That Haunts Youdefinitely the yi city arc!!!! i both love and loath it because it is just so sad and horrible but also has some stunning visuals, wei wuxian being a badass kindergartner and some big reveals for the main plot.

The Untamed / MDZS ask game

#ctlyuejie writes #fic rec #rec!#cute anon alert #ask game #long post

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spaceorphan18 · 5 years ago

Text

TDB Rewatch: The New York Arc

I was originally going to do a post for each episode - but you know what? I think I’ve talked about this particular part of the series more than any other part - and even though it’s been seven weeks since I’ve even seen an episode of Glee (!!) - I’m not entirely sure I have anything new to say about these episodes, so here we go with one big post for you.

New New York

Is this still the best episode of the series? Yes - I think it is. The entire episode is completely watchable, the music is great, the Klaine stuff is great, everyone gets something interesting to do, Rachel is interesting again, Mercedes re-joins the cast, and even Artie has some funny lines. This episode almost feels like a pilot of a spin-off series, and I’m a little sad we didn’t get to see more than this arc, because these characters still seem fresh and interesting - and this episode is clearly all setting up the status quo for living in New York.

I’ve seen the episode so many times now that this one flew by, and while I’m always here for the amazing Klaine stuff - the nice thing is that watching the episode as a whole, I’m not bored with any of it. I have no new meta to add to the piles of things I’ve already written and said on the podcast, but I’m glad this episode remains enjoyable even after a million rewatches.

Btw - I still say they should have asked Adam Lambert to be a regular - he adds so much and I’m sad that this is his last appearance on the show.

Also - I can tell it’s been a while since I’ve watched the show - Chris and Darren are really pretty. Just thought I should remind you ;)

///

Bash

So, while Opening Night might be my least favorite of the bunch, but I think as an episode Bash might be the weakest? And actually - I think it might have been better if the Kurt being bashed story line was a) more prominently in the episode or b) not in it at all. It feels like it’s almost an after thought to Rachel’s (absurd) story - and there’s such a rich story with Kurt (and Blaine) that feels wholly untapped because it’s more about Rachel Berry and her feelings. :P I do like the little bits of it that we did get, Kurt and Blaine are superb as they are in all of these episodes. And I mean - it’s nice that Rachel gets yelled at twice for being a moron - even if the whole thing doesn’t hold together very well.

Meanwhile, I’m not sure how much I have to say about Sam and Mercedes - I enjoy them as a couple, though I can’t say that I’m riveted by their story line. It is nice, though that Amber Riley gets a chance to shine since she’s been away from the show for so long. I think the awkwardest thing about this episode, (besides Sam’s impressions) is the fact that that the two story lines don’t mesh well, and it feels like the episode starts off as one thing then pivots and does something else entirely in the second half.

That said - the music is great, as always, everyone sounds really beautiful on all the Soundheim things. And while I didn’t need two Mercedes solos - she is lovely as always.

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Tested

Who knew Artie having an STD would be such a fun episode. Honestly, I think this is the best episode the show does about sex. Yes, even over The First Time (even if I like TFT just a smidge more). Each of the characters are in a unique situation, and come at sex in a different way - and it’s actually pretty cool the way the show handles it. They’re not usually great with these kind of topics, but I really have no complaints about how they handled anything in this episode. I especially like the fact that a) Mercedes gets to choose how she wants to deal with sex and b) they let Mercedes and Rachel be actual girl friends when it comes to a topic - again something the show doesn’t always handle the best. Yes, for all the sex positive conversations in this episode.

Also, the ‘I’m slut shaming you’ scene might be one of the funniest things the show ever did.

The only one weighing this one down, and why it isn’t passing NNY by on my favorites list - is that the music just isn’t good. I mean, all the songs fit the episode fine, and the performances are great, I just don’t like any of the songs.

Also - Kurt is super extra in this episode - which really reinforces my headcanon that Kurt not getting regular sexy times is super grumpy.

Anyway, I give kudos to the show for doing an episode that has some actual layers to it in all of its plot lines. Usually, Glee’s pretty anivilish about everything, but there’s some actual nuance in this story - good job show. It’s nice to be not spoon fed everything all the time.

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Opening Night

Well... This remains the worst of the NYC Arc - and really, only because the stupid and a bit convoluted Sue plot. Rachel’s arc is a bit silly too (really - I roll my eyes at the whole ‘oh no NYT reporter’ bit, especially when the dude just waxes praise on her like everyone else on the show) - but are some legitimately entertaining things going on during the Rachel side of things. And I dare say the episode is a little underrated? There are some good jokes and nice music, and it is exactly what you’d expect from Rachel’s first night (even if I still think Funny Girl should have been placed at the end of the show) and Rachel has been rather held back and used well during the NYC Arc so I don’t mind her spot light here.

But man, the Sue stuff is tedious. I kind of forget Will is apart of it (and did logic take some time off again? Because the Emma having a baby thing is... let’s not get into it). Sue actually has already arrived at her season 6 self - and even some of the early sequences with her kids aren’t bad, but there are really two scenes that drag this entire episode way, way down -- the date with Mario the restaurant guy, and the last five minutes with Mario the restaurant guy. Oh my god - why is this the only thing they could think of to do with Sue? I mean - everything about this plot line screams contractual obligation - needing to give Jane Lynch one episode during this 7. But could they really not think of anything more interesting for her to do?? DId she really need a date so she and Rachel could sing that song together?? Ug - it is really frustrating that this takes up a third of the episode. What a waste.

But, I mean, as a whole, it’s not terrible in the way the worst of Glee is - and really, everything on the Rachel side (mostly) works for me. It’s a good thing all that Sue/Mario stuff is pretty easily skipped.

///

The Back-Up Plan

Hey! Another solid episode! It’s weird - the focusing only three story line lets the episode breathe - a lot - to the point it seems strange, lol. But anyway...

First there’s Rachel’s story - which I know people were annoyed that Rachel bails a month into Funny Girl, but idk - this seems like Rachel. And this is the one and really only time she faces serious consequences for her actions. It’s refreshing really. Also - Jim Rash is a delight, and that audition scene is priceless.

Meanwhile - Mercedes and Santana have a great story that I kind of wish there was more of. Santana’s been gone for most of the arc so far, but I don’t mind her coming back - she’s rather civil and low key during these last few episodes, and it’s a bit refreshing, honestly. Anyway - I like that pop business is treated with a little more realism than Broadway, as D’Shawn (Mercedes’s producer) seems to tell it like is. But more so, I feel like there’s a genuine friendship between Mercedes and Santana and that’s pretty refreshing, too.

And then there’s the June story line. You know what? I really do not like June. Sorry. And I find it a little creepy she wants to mold Blaine into something of her own making. I’m also... not sure what the purpose of this entire story was? Ah well... At least we get some really lovely Klaine moments out of the whole thing.

Bonus - the music in this episode is all pretty solid.

///

Old Dog, New Tricks

You guys ever notice Artie’s eating dog biscuits in this? Weird things you notice when you watch the whole episode. Anyway...

Hey - it’s that episode that Chris wrote. And yeah, it’s a little awkward - in a - you can tell this is a new writer for TV kinda way not in a - this sucks kind of way. I really wish Chris had stuck with TV writing, I think he showed some real promise, and writing for other shows would have been great experience. Ah well. It all just makes me miss Chris actually doing things that are not related to middle school fantasy novels.

So, for the record, if you guys ever wonder who Chris is, seemingly, frustrated with? Watch this episode - and how he writes Rachel. She’s been almost acting human in the rest of this arc, and in this episode, she really is back to being really awful. At least multiple people get to tell her off again - it’s, again, refreshing. How many times as she been told off during this arc? Not enough, but it’s been kind of nice when you string them all together.

Anyway - this episode, as you’ve probably heard me say before, works pretty well. Santana as a publicity is brilliant (and perhaps the best aspect of Chris’s writing), Sam and Mercedes relationship issues are handled rather maturely, Chris as Peter Pan is incredibly inspired, and the music is pretty solid (even if it’s not my personal favorite). There’s even a sweet Klaine scene (though - I still maintain it was wise not to have Chris write too much Blaine). The only thing that really doesn’t work to for me, and maybe we’re far enough away that I can say this honestly without feeling like there will be too much repercussion - I don’t think June Squibb is very good. I mean, yeah - part of it is the awkwardness of the story itself. But - Maggie just doesn’t work for me. Sorry :(

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The Untitled Rachel Berry Project

I know a lot of people say that this episode feels like a finale for them. And I kind of get that, I do. But, honestly, it feels more like a chapter break. This episode is incredibly bittersweet - as if it knows (and it does) what’s coming in season 6. But, also, it’s the ending of a show I kind of wish we had much longer, and I guess it feels a little sad to get to the end.

The episode itself is solid - there are only really three plot lines here, and they all work pretty well. The music might be the weakest element (I only like about half the songs in this one) but it’s got comedy and drama and warmth and sadness, and does make for a great season finale. (It’s the best season finale the show did -- really, it is.) And I guess - everyone ends up where they’re supposed to end up, and it works for me.

I don’t really have a lot to say about it, or at least anything new to say. It’s good, it’s solid, and while I’m super tired of watching TV all day, it’s a great ending to a really good chunk of TV.

///

Final Thoughts:

I am a little saddened that we didn’t get those two episodes that were taken from the season. I feel like another couple of beats in the story lines would have worked wonders, and of course, selfishly, we’d have a little more of my favorite part of the story.

Interestingly, though, I don’t know if this makes any sense - but I got the feeling the writers were always more comfortable writing stuff back at McKinley. Like - they did this because they had the time, but they wouldn’t have been able to sustain an entire season writing it. I know we could all come up with great stories, but I think it’s better that they were wrapping things up at this point, because the show feels like it’s headed towards an ending.

I thought I’d get more insight about things watching them all in one sitting - but I’m not sure I did. I think the show almost works better as a week to week so you can sit with each episode. I think when strung together the arcs don’t seem as fluid as we have them in our heads now that we’ve spent years talking about each episode individually.

Weirdly - the music of this arc is really hit and miss for me. It’s interesting, to me, that a lot of times when the story is stronger, the music isn’t always as good. A lot of other times, it’s vice versa. The really, really good episodes can balance the two.

I feel bad for Kevin McHale - who really had nothing to do other than be a giant STD.

That said - one of the most refreshing things about this arc was the lack of toxic masculinity crap, as well as some of the best writing for the women ever on the show.

I enjoyed the little bit of Santana and Brittany that we got - this was, like, the prefect amount of them.

One of the downsides of everyone being paired off is that we didn’t get to see interesting mixed-up pairs - one of the draw backs of the show having such little time in New York.

One thing that stood out to me, and god I hope I don’t get too much hate for this, is that Mercedes and Sam don’t really work... at least at this point. Seeing the entire arc all together, it’s very apparent that while I don’t doubt how much they care for each other, they’re definitely in two different places in their lives. And while I applaud the maturity that the relationship was handled with, it’s clear that they’re not ready to be in a long term relationship (yet).

Rachel! Was bearable for most of the arc. Yeah - there are still a lot of special snowflake Rachel moments. But Lea Michele can do comedy well, and they let her do that.

I didn’t find anything wrong or unusual about Chris’s acting choices. **shrug**

Kurt’s mildly unhappy through a lot of these episodes - but much of that is at Rachel. And really at his own place in life. And the one episode where he’s super sexually frustrated.

The Klaine stuff is delicious - and of course, discussed many other places that you don’t really need me to rehash it.

It’s also unfinished.

They should have made Adam Lambert a regular.

Alright - bring it Season 6.

#tdb rewatch #anyone miss my caps?#eh probably not #but they're back!

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patheticphallacy · 5 years ago

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This is the first in my Graphic Reading Wrap Up series.

I read enough manga, comics and graphic novels that I figured I’d be better off doing separate wrap ups so I don’t find myself having to cram a shit ton into my reading wrap ups every month. I want to spend more time actually talking about what I read, especially graphic fiction/non-fiction, which I get through so much of that I feel like I don’t spend enough time explaining my thoughts.

If you would like longer reviews of anything I talk about in this post, let me know. I have some P L A N S for Christmas blogging to make up for what will be a smaller November upload month.

#1 is my first wrap up after my September wrap up, if you want to see what else I’ve read.

Assassination Classroom Volume 5 by Yusei Matsui

I’m very fond of this series, and the growth of its characters. The prioritisation of developing the students and their self esteem is so incredible: rather than beating his students down, Korosensei works them towards improvement, and it’s interesting seeing so many layers of characters who aren’t strictly good or evil. This volume has the end of the baseball arc, a fight against the new PE teacher, and the next arc is another assassination attempt on Korosensei, which is exciting.

Check, Please! Book 1: #Hockey by Ngozi Ukazu

I’ve been reading this webcomic since 2016, so finally being able to pick up this volume now I have money has been a long time coming. I hold every character deep in my heart and I know pretty much every chapter/episode like the back of my hand, so reading this was more like revisiting an old friend than something new. I HIIIIGHLY recommend this webcomic, and I will only discuss it with you if you also rate it 5 stars and love it unconditionally!

The Adventure Zone: Murder on the Rockport Limited by the McElroy’s (especially Clint) and Carey Pietsch

This is my favourite arc in the podcast, so I was expecting to love it more than I did. It feels like some of the humour isn’t translated as well over to these graphic novels, but I think changes made are important to fit the format. I think this works well for people who are fans of the podcast, but I’d definitely recommend the podcast first for other people, just to understand the characterisation and the D&D self-inserts Griffin has. But I will say…. Angus McDonald is still my baby boy and I love him.

Momo to Manji Volume 1 and 2 by Sawa Sakura

A very heavy series, while still being cute. Momo to Manji is set during the Edo Period and follows a male prostitute who is taken in by another man after growing too old to still serve. It has confusing moments, and has very dark material– some violence, obviously prostitution, as well as incest and very young characters having sex with adults– but the relationship between the two main characters is very endearing, and I really grew to care about Momo especially.

Welcome to Wanderland #4 by Jackie Ball (not pictured)

Finally got to read issue 4! A very quick and fantastical series, and I think the new artist did a great job helping finish up a series that was very dear to the hearts of the writer and the original artist. I was satisfied with this conclusion and I think I’ll end up re-reading it, maybe next year, just to experience the full story in all its glory.

Fragments of Horror by Junji Ito

This is a solid 3 star collection. None of the stories really lingered with me other than Gentle Goodbye, which is now one of my favourite short stories. It’s a beautiful and incredibly moving story for me, even if that wasn’t Ito’s original intention when writing it as a horror story. There’s something to be said about generational horror and ghosts, and what family means to different individuals.

Dissolving Classroom by Junji Ito

My new favourite Junji Ito manga! There’s a focus on body horror, as there always is, but this felt more… fun. Chizumi is a nightmare child, I think she’s so great and definitely up there with my favourite children in horror now. I know the ending will be hit or miss with other people, but it’s not like Uzumaki, where I waited 600 pages to be disappointed at the end.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride Volume 1, 2 & 3 by Kore Yamazaki

A series I’m very much in the middle about. I’m enjoying the fantastical elements, but the setting and time period are so confusing to wrap my head around in terms of modernity. It very much reminds me of Lore Olympus in that regard, but that webcomic is more straightforward in explaining, so I just don’t know with this manga. There’s also something stopping me for completely loving the characters. I’m not a fan of age-gap romances that don’t spell out what’s going on: is this romantic, or is it purely platonic? If I don’t know where I’m supposed to stand, I can’t feel at ease reading it.

The Avant-Guards #7 & #8 by Carly Usdin

This series is so good! Great cast of characters who are believable in their love for one another and their basketball playing. There’s a genuine wholesomeness to this series that really reminds me of Check, Please! and Haikyuu!!. What is it with sports stories and exclamation marks? Anyway, I highly recommend this series, I’m glad it’s been longer running than Usdin’s other stories. Also, did you see the Heavy Vinyl graphic novel announcement? SICK.

Lovely Complex Volume 2 by Aya Nakahara

This series is getting better by volume. It definitely draws on cliches and tropes of the genre, but I really enjoy that, and I’m still attached to the characters and the slow burn complexity of the feelings between the two leads. It’s easy reading where the conflicts never linger and isn’t at all difficult to get through, which is definitely something I need more of in my reading.

Parasyte Volume 1 by Hitoshi Iwaaki

Meh. For some reason, I was really expecting to love this– a dude learning to live with a parasite who controls his arm is a great premise– but there was something about the writing that stopped me from feeling compelled. I can’t really feel any risk, and that’s something I like in my horror. The body horror is also not too great, which was one of the selling points for me. Sad! Not sure if I’ll carry on with this series, honestly.

Out of Skin by Emily Carroll

Another freaky short story from Emily Carroll, who honestly does no wrong in my eyes. Amazing art– character design, colour palette, all of it, amazing– and the eerie story at its heart. I love Emily Carroll’s focus on more feminine voices and stories, it never feels exploitative of women and draws on violence towards women without feeling nasty or targeted.

Teen Dog by Jake Lawrence

The ULTIMATE graphic novel. Literally, one of my all time favourites. It’s the perfect balance of silly and existential, and I genuinely love every moment of reading this. It was my second read through and I just smiled the whole time.

Are you a fan of this new recapping format? I found it a lot more easy to only talk about manga/comics/graphic novels, and doing this means I don’t put myself under pressure to get wrap ups out at the same time every month and have about 40 things to get through in one go!

I’d love some recommendations in the comments.

If you liked this post, consider buying me a coffee? Ko-Fi.

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Graphic Reading Wrap Up #1 This is the first in my Graphic Reading Wrap Up series. I read enough manga, comics and graphic novels that I figured I'd be better off doing separate wrap ups so I don't find myself having to cram a shit ton into my reading wrap ups every month.

#blog #blogging #comic books #graphic novels #manga #reading #reading wrap up

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reifromrfa · 6 years ago

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Magic Moments: A Weasley Twins One-shot

Happy New Year, everyone!!!

This is my Secret Santa gift to @rozenwaffle ! <3 Not MM, but I really love the Weasley twins! I hope you like it <3

It was glorious.

The slow graceful motion of their youngest brother as the snowball thwacks against his cheek, the skin of his face rippling like a million ocean waves. The way his body free falls into the powdered snow, his open mouth being stuffed with beautiful white ice.

Fred and George snicker as they lean against the opposite sides of a tree, watching Ron fumble around, lifting his head and spitting snow out of his mouth.

"Fred! George! You foul gits!" Ron scrambles to his feet, eyes scanning the premises for the twins. When his eyes zone in on them, he's too late. Another snowball arcs across the air and lands on his face, the impact and his unsteady footing making him fall into the icy sea again.

The twins let out a sigh and shake their heads in mock sadness.

"What do you think, George?"

"I dunno, Fred. This one seems to be lacking in the brains department."

"Could it be because--"

"--we dropped him when he was a baby?"

Ron hobbles to his feet but the twins raise their wands and flick them towards their brother. Snow hovers into the air, forming two round balls before zooming towards the youngest male Weasley. Ron dodges one, but gets slammed right on his forehead with the other.

Fred sighs. "What."

"A."

"Disappointment," both twins say together.

"Oh leave him alone. You two are bullies." Ginny says as she passes by from feeding the chickens.

"We can't help it." Fred speaks up.

"He's an easy target." George pipes up.

"And besides..."

"He needs to toughen up."

"Be a man."

"Well he can also be a woman."

"We'd still accept him."

"Little Rona."

"Ronnie."

"Rosemary Alexandria Maria Dorothy Elizabeth Wumpykins."

"The Third."

Ginny shakes her head but she can't help the smile at her older brothers' antics. They are so silly, so outrageous. Two identical trouble-makers. Some twins strove hard to be different. But with Fred and George, they seemed to want to be identical in every way possible...if only to confuse and play pranks on the gullible victims.

Ron finally manages to get up and he scoops up a handful of snow, eyes focused on the two smirking faces gazing back at him. The twins aren't even moving from their position, their postures relaxed as they stare down their brother, watching as Ron decided who he would aim for.

Ron's gaze finally lands on George, but as the ball flies towards the younger twin, George merely ducks and straightens, the frozen slush landing on the ground behind him.

"Going to have to do better than that, Ron."

Fred chuckles but suddenly his face feels cold, the shock of the cold ice making him push himself off the tree, running a hand down his face. Ginny is already scooping up another handful of snow, rolling it around her hands traditionally, without the use of magic.

"SABOTAGE!" George bellows, kicking off the tree and running to the side of the yard. He bends down as he runs, filling his hand with snow before chucking it behind him, at his sister.

But Ginny dodges it easily, sprinting across the snow in chase of her brother. She gasps though when ice hits the back of her neck, some of it rolling down her shirt.

"Don't let your guard down, sis!" Fred snickers behind her, rolling another ball and aiming for Ron. Said Weasley is scooping up handfuls of snow, rolling them together to create a bigger counter-attack. However, when he throws it, Fred runs diagonally. Thus, Ron's ball meets the ground once again.

Ron is further annoyed when he hears Fred and George's laughs being carried by the wind. Quickening his pace, Ron closes the gap then hurls his body forward, tackling his older brother to the ground.

"Man down!" George shouts, doing a U-turn and running towards his two brothers, who were rolling around. Ginny hurls an attack at her brother and George lets out a strangled cry as the small round ball of ice hits his arm. “Another man down! Ahhhhh I’m hit, Fred!” George does a dramatic twirl then proceeds to free fall onto the powdery snow, making Ginny laugh at her brother's antics.

"George, NOOOOO!" Fred exclaims just as dramatically. With renewed energy, he hurls his younger brother off him and crawls to his twin, the entire scene making the two younger Weasleys snort and chuckle.

"Go on without me, Fred." George says, feigning a cough.

"No! Don't talk like that, George! We still need to nick that singing cauldron from Filch's office and place under Snape's bed!"

"No...I...I can't, Fred. It's too late for me. You need to finish our lifelong goal...solo."

"I won't accept it! I won't!" Fred clutches his brother's body and Ginny is howling in laughter, clutching her stomach as tears slipped down her cheeks.

"Good...bye...Fred." George closes his eyes and his body goes limp.

"NOOOOOOOO!" Fred roars in exaggerated slow motion, shaking his fist at the sky.

"Oy! Stop screaming I'm trying to sleep!" George tells him. In a heartbeat, the younger twin's fingers form into a fist, snow trapped in his hands. Then he slams the ball into his brother's face with a war-cry. Fred drops his twin's body, the cold slush jolting his system. He spits out the snow that got into his mouth and scrambles to his feet, George already running towards the house.

"I'll get you for this, George!"

Ron finally manages to land hits on his brothers, but by this point, the siblings are all laughing, tossing balls at each other.

There's nothing particularly amazing about the moment. Having a snowball fight in the middle of winter is actually the most cliche activity that teenagers could do. But to the siblings, everything in that exact moment feels magical.

After sometime, the four Weasleys lay on their backs in the snow, each looking at the twilight sky. They're catching their breaths, cheeks flushed, their clothes and hair dusted with snow. Fred found himself wishing for more moments like this…there’s something extraordinary in the most ordinary acts. And everyday should always be made into an extraordinary one.

“We should head back inside, mum will be calling for us soon.” Ginny remarks, sitting up and brushing off her coat.

“Yeah. I’m starving.” Ron adds, getting to his feet.

Fred and George are about to do the same when they hear a voice.

“What are you all doing there? You’ll drag snow into the house and you’ll have to clean up the mess,” comes Percy’s annoyed tone.

The twins look at each other. A mischievous smile is mirrored in each other’s faces —identical deviants.

“Say Percy…” Fred says, his hand slowly closing on the snow beneath him. George does the same.

“…would you care…”

“…for a…”

“…snowcone?”

The twins sit up, reel back their arm and throw their balls. Right into Percy’s irritated face.

It was glorious.

The slow graceful motion of their uptight brother as the snowball thwacks against his cheek, the skin of his face rippling like a million ocean waves. The way his body free falls into the powdered snow, his open mouth being stuffed with beautiful white ice.

“Run for it, Fred!”

“Right behind you, George!”

Happy 2019, guys! :D Cherish every moment with loved ones <3

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#harry potter #weasley twins #twins #fred weasley #george weasley #fanfiction #oneshot #hp fanfic #hp oneshot #hp weasley twins #secret santa!#rozenwaffle #i hope you like it!#family #slice of life

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teagrl · 6 years ago

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So it seems I am on hiatus, while I straighten up things in Stone for the final arc and try to make headway on my next project, which means we’re back to a snippet a week.

Today’s snippet is a continuation of this.

It’s trippy so it might not make much sense without that. The ideas are some explored in Flying Cage so they might be confusing.

This is the first scene from the third installment of the Adyton series, tentatively titled Mnemotherapy. It could most accurately be thought of as the follow up to Washing Blood with Blood. The gist of Washing Blood is Mara driven insane by Jacen giving her a vision of him being Ben as she killed him, and eventually ending up in an astral plane from which Luke has to pull her out.

They’re out of the astral plane, but not in the real world yet. This is mindfuckery pretty much. LotF timeline. Might not make sense without context.

She never thought she’d see this place again and the sheer relief would make her sink into her knees. Someday she’ll stay here forever. This or a place like it.

Even now, there’s little more she’d like to do than stop and lose herself here, but time pressed down, the tick of the chrono echoing through the tack tack of her heels on the pristine floors, the swish of her massive, black trailing skirts. She’d pause and stare at herself out of curiosity. She gathered she was human, female, she supposed she was young too, but wants to see the whole not just pieces.

She reached the landing and wanders down a hall of mirrors, smiling to herself as she keeps dashing forward.

Ask and you shall receive is the way this place works.

The mirrors showed she was beautiful, her hair a bright red gold, flowing loose and halfway down her back, the skin of her shoulders smooth, her torso tapered to a small waist in a fitted bodice before it flared out to those voluminous black skirts. It’s a ballroom dress.

A child’s voice said as if from far away, a princess dress.

She smiled more widely, amused. Except for all that black.

A few more steps and she found a door to the left. Her destination. That was also how it was here, an intuition led more than anything else.

She opened the door to a stormy sea.

Her smile faded as she considered the small boat, a dinghy, tethered to the short dock. No, there was nothing to be feared in this place, but she enjoyed some parts of it more than others.

And even in a place like this there were rules. Guidelines.

She whispered, “I’d like a guide, please.”

It isn’t that she needed one; she belonged here, but when there was something she’d never encountered before she always asked for a guide.

This place always obliged.

(Of course it does. She is this place. This place is hers.)

“The night that Zena smudged her dress and made mischief she was sent to her room without supper.”

She turned around to see a small redheaded boy maybe six or seven. He was dressed in a casual white tunic and leggings, a contrast to the palace and her own ostentatious dress.

He met her eyes and grinned. “Your dress is supposed to be smudged. That’s why it’s all black.”

She smiles back and crouches, reaching forward to cup the child’s cheek.

It wasn’t really a boy, it was an entity, an avatar, like everything here. Because she belonged here, she felt the true form of things, however fragmented they were, regardless the shape they take.

“Is it?” she murmured. “It looks beautiful. Just like you.”

“Well, one has to make allowances. We’re in a palace, after all,” he said. “Who do you want to see? Or would you like me to tell you a story? I know lots.”

She reached to fold her arms around the child.

“What’s that for?” the child’s voice was muffled as she drew him close, but in good humor as he submitted to the embrace.

“Because I missed you, sweetheart.” All too soon she had to let him go. “And I love all your stories, but I think I should speak to the oracle.”

The boy frowned. “The oracle is sad.”

“That’s why you should take me to her. Maybe I can cheer her up.”

“Okay.” The boy stepped forward through the door and to the windy dock. He turned back, eyes sliding down her dress, ruffling in the breeze. He pursed his mouth. “That’s not proper attire.”

“You might be right,” she told him. “What do you suggest?”

“Hmm. There.”

The boy looks much bigger now. Everything does. She looked at herself. Instead of arms she has black furry paws now. She was on all fours.

Ah. She was a whisperkit now.

She followed at the boy’s heels. He jumped into the dinghy and she looked at it for a second, before jumping after him. The boy bent and scratched at the base of her ear, a content purr escaping her. She curled beside the boy on the seat as he rows the boat through the waves.

“And that night outside Zena’s room came a ship that had her name on it.”

She laughed. “To rescue her from being punished for misbehaving?”

“Kind of.” The boy smiled. “After many days, many weeks, and almost a year she ends in the planet full of fierce things.”

“Monsters?”

He shook his head. “No, just fierce things.”

“She comes home,” she offered.

“No,” he chides.“You’re always so impatient.”

She bunted her head against his forearm. “Sorry.”

He smiled and stopped rowing to scratch at the base of her ears. Another purr escaped her. “She was just Zena in her smudged dress, but when she meets up with the fierce things, they roared at her and showed her their fangs and claws.”

“Sounds a lot like monsters,” she opined.

The boy gave a long suffering sigh, but scratched under her chin before grabbing the oars again.

“Did she pull out her lightsaber and challenge them? Have them for dinner with silec sauce?”

He laughed, a buoyant sound. “No! She’s a little girl! She shows her own teeth and nails and roars at them. But that’s enough. They cower, knowing she’s the fiercest of them all, and that’s when they name her the Princess of the Fierce things.”

“I see why this is your favorite.”

The boy’s expression loses its brightness.

“It wasn’t,” he said softly. “It wasn’t my favorite.”

“What happens to the Princess?”

“She goes home after that and her family isn’t angry at her anymore.”

“Of course they wouldn’t be.” She curled tighter against him. “They love her. They must have been very worried not to find her in her room.”

The boy’s eyes were on the waves. “They even brought her favorite dinner and desert up. She was very sorry.”

“Hurts?” she asked gently after a moment.

The boy nodded. “A lot. But we don’t know why. The oracle’s blocked most of it, and she won’t talk. It’s because you’re here that it hurts more,” he said without accusation. “We don’t want you to go away though. You shouldn’t. Ever. We missed you.”

“I’ll talk to the oracle,” she assured him. “We’ll find a way to make it better, even with me here.”

The boy nodded. The boat has stopped at another dock, and the boy reached to pet her again. She pushed lightly into his hand, purring. “We missed you,” the boy repeats softly. “It rained here for a long time. Only you like that.”

She shook her head as she lifted her head to meet his eyes. They aren't blue. “Not that kind of rain.”

The boy stood up and tied the boat to the dock. She jumped up to it, hearing the boy sigh. “The oracle’ll be mad if you’re not back to that silly princess get up.”

In a blink the flowing black skirts were all around her. The dock was longer this time and she walked down it to a beach with cream colored sand. She turned to wave at the boy, but he and the boat were gone. She continued on through the sand.

Even here walking on the sand with heels was annoying so she took them off. After a bit of walking, she started seeing objects on the shore, pieces of machinery, stores, crates, torn servomotors, actuators, batteries, a hyperdrive ring, sensor wires, chunks of durasteel, and other scattered debris.

It looked like a crash.

She started running through the strewn material, instinctively, picking up her skirts. There, by the distance, she could see a human figure sprawled on the sand, and she ran harder weaving through the material that was washing up.

It was her, the oracle, on her side, a thin metal pipe running from her left side to right, blood blackening her blue flightsuit along her middle. The suit was half charred. She lay face down, red hair faded and gnarled, covered with soot like a broken body washing up on shore.

It’d been a long, long time since she’d seen a gruesome scene like this here.

Still unacceptable.

The pipe vanished. The tattered clothes transformed into a new tunic a few shades lighter than the sand, which lifted from her hair, along with the soot, leaving thick red hair streaked with gray. The oracle slowly lifts up on her arms. Her green eyes track up the black skirts...

...which become obsidianbirds taking to the sky, leaving a different form behind them, a truer form, once, but not anymore, here.

(Because he has become this place and this place has become him. It has become everything.)

“I’d made you so pretty,” the oracle whispers, chiding as she sits up.

“I think I’m going to stop wearing black.” He lowered himself down to sit by her, his tunic now the same color as hers. “You’re right. Maybe it’s just too boring.”

She snorted, a smile playing on her lips. “Twenty years later he agrees with me.”

#luke x mara #my fic #probably doesn't make sense without context

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jackiestarsister · 6 years ago

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This is the longest and most philosophical Star Wars analysis I've read this year, touching on toxic fandom, the nature and purpose of (film) criticism, the character arcs of The Last Jedi, how people see themselves in fictional characters, the relationship between art and real life, and why people get upset about creative choices.

(For me, I think one reason I was so delighted by "The Force Awakens" and "The Last Jedi" was because I went into both of those films without many expectations or much emotional attachment, so I had no room for disappointment. Going into Episode IX will be different, since now I'm so attached to the story and am hoping for specific developments, but I've tried to base my expectations on what seems likely to actually happen. We'll see how that goes.)

Since the whole piece is probably too long for most to read, here are some more interesting bits:

"It is as if we are all in the biblical Tower of Babel, unable to speak the same language. So of course everyone feels misunderstood and tangled up in rancor (pun intended). Thus, I only have one goal, which is not for us to agree. I just want us to start speaking the same language. ... Rose’s arc is that of the good person who never thought she could have a place on the main stage. She does not experience a change in philosophy, but a change of actualization. ... It is always in the desperation to be taken seriously that we make ourselves the joke. But embracing our kid-like sensibilities, along with all the sadness and range life has to offer, is maturity itself. It’s understanding we can be silly and make fun of ourselves just as much as we can be anything else. ... The ignoring of character arcs, the silly tone, the faux logic arguments, it all adds up into the vicarious way people place themselves into a movie. So they felt attacked by this movie… It’s attacking all the worst parts of ourselves and asking us to do better. ... The truth is that all I can do in this discussion is try to help foster understanding. ... All I can do is show a different path of how I see things. All I can do is point out why I see problems with the paths that others take, and why it might foster animosity.

... it creates animosity for those who do not want to see the truth about themselves. Like Rey looking at the endless possibilities of herself, it is so much easier to lash out and blame the other rather than engage in self-reflection. ... The mirror of art is the constant act of self-reflection. And so to all in the casual fandom who simply feel like you are in the middle of all this, all you can do is open up, look around, and try to understand what’s really going on under the surface. To understand the stark difference between movies that admonish and movies that simply ask us to grow. ... Because the moments where the tower crashes are the moments that inspire the most self-reflection. And the simpler truth is that the tower of Star Wars has crashed many, many times before, for many, many different people and for many, many different reasons. For some it fell at the mere sight of an Ewok. My tower fell with the prequels. Somebody’s surely did with The Last Jedi. Or even for a business person within Disney, it may have been Solo. Everyone has their own story with Star Wars, both personal and universal. But Star Wars itself never crashes. That’s because of “the core,” and I don’t think it ever will. It’s just our idea of what it “is” to us that continually crashes, time and time again. ... When the towers of our lives crash, we can learn to understand what is really important to us. We learn to see ourselves and what we want to really believe in. We can rebuild them. ... But wanting to rebuild towers in the same unhealthy ways we did before leads nowhere good. ... You will rebuild poorly again and again, and it will fall time and time again. The simple action is to take stock of the fact we are O.K. standing in the earth and mud, that we are still alive, and then set forth to build our towers in the healthiest of ways. To understand our traumas, to understand others, to understand the heart of what we want."

#Star Wars #The Last Jedi #fandom #criticism #storytelling #analysis #critique

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betweengenesisfrogs · 7 years ago

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OFF-THE-CUFF HOMESTUCK POSTS #6: THE TRAGEDY (AND SECRET TRIUMPH) OF JADE HARLEY, OR: THE GNOSTIC GARDENER

DISCLAIMER FRAMEWORK

[CHECK THE TAG FOR MORE THOUGHTS]

[Note: Content warning for brief mention of sexual abuse and longer discussion of perceived suicide and associated thoughts.]

Let's talk about Jade Harley.

A common feeling I've seen about the final chapters of Homestuck is that Jade Harley deserved better, that she suffered completely unfairly and arbitrarily in the final timeline.

I actually completely agree. Jade *absolutely* deserved better. Where I disagree is with the argument that Jade's suffering somehow shows Hussie is a bad writer.

I think it's important to recognize that good storytelling isn't always the same thing as happy storytelling. Some stories or parts of stories are *about* suffering. They're tragedy, a form of storytelling I'd define as an examination of a negative set of events: why they took place, why the characters involved couldn't escape them. Done well, this can be as meaningful as any happy ending.

I mean, there's a reason a bunch of Greeks wanted to watch a series of plays about a guy who accidentally marries his mother and then stabs his eyes out.

So when we're talking about good storytelling in Homestuck, i.e.: whether character arcs reach meaningful catharsis, we have to bear in mind that the bad shit that happens to our characters is sometimes the very subject of the story.

In other words, yes, Jade Harley deserved better.

That's the *entire point.*

Now, that said, I actually think Jade does have a happy ending, and a damn cathartic one. But we need to understand the unfair suffering she went through to understand why. What I find fascinating about Jade's arc is that she confronts the tragic, suffering-causing aspects of SBURB and the domain of Lord English more directly than any other character and finds a way to become free of them. It's not that her suffering was in any way merited or right, it's that by rejecting that unfairness, she finds incredible self-affirmation, freedom, and escape in a way that makes her the most direct manifestation of Homestuck's Gnostic themes.

In the causes of her suffering, and in how that suffering is overcome, Jade Harley is the key to the deeper meanings of Homestuck.

The Absent Grandfather

As a person, Jade has suffered unfairly on more than one level. Her later tragedy echoes and recapitulates the tragedies of her childhood, which makes it all the more painful. To understand this suffering, we need to understand her relationship with her guardian, Grandpa Harley.

[A brief digression: at this point, I should probably mention a recent theory by mmmmalo that posits Grandpa Harley as a sexual predator and Jade as a victim of abuse. I feel bad even bringing it up, because mmmmalo seems like a really nice guy, and I really enjoy his work tackling Homestuck from a psychological/psychoanalytical perspective, but I just can't really buy this theory. For one, Grandpa isn't at all characterized as capable of that kind of evil. The closest we come are some dubious feelings about Grandpa from Dave that are clearly him projecting his own issues onto Jade (he's never even met her grandfather), and the odd fact that Grandpa obsessed portraits of beautiful blue women from beauty parlors--discomfiting, but ultimately kind of harmless, unless you really stretch it as a psychological metaphor. To my mind, there really isn't that much to substantiate anything worse here.

Furthermore, the Alpha kids, as ever, offer opportunities to understand the Guardians in more depth, and there's little reason to think Grandpa would be substantially different from Jake English. mmmmalo posits that in DBZ-esque fashion, Jake hitting his head turned him good, but I just don't buy it, especially when Jake's "head injury" isn't actually real--it's one of his excuses for avoiding his own failings. (See the Jane's birthday conversation for how this plays out.) For my money, Jake and Grandpa are pretty similar: nice enough people whose biggest flaw is avoiding responsibility by retreating into the landscape of their own fantasies.

Ultimately, this particular leap is too big a leap for me to take, particularly because I feel like it would need to be addressed on a textual level (like Bro's abuse was with Dirk and Dave) if it was meant to be taken as canonical fact. I feel like mmmmalo's theories are at their strongest when they focus on the psychological experiences of characters, rather than when they try to posit hidden secrets in the canon. The first just feels so much more useful and reliable for me as a method, at least. No shade to mmmmalo, though: I hope he keeps on writing his own brand of fascinating Homestuck analysis for years to come, because he's doing stuff no one else is and it always leads to exciting new approaches.]

Now, none of this is to say that Grandpa Harley never had a negative impact on Jade. Her childhood trauma actually concerns him very deeply. As we see in the scene where she imagines him dictating to her in the foyer, she's both nostalgic about her grandfather and angry with him. She's filled with conflicted feelings about him, positive and negative at once. But the harm comes across in a completely different way, a way that's deeply textually supported and fits with what we know about Jake English.

Jade thinks that her grandfather committed suicide.

At least, she does for the vast majority of her life, until Tavros explains otherwise.

At a whimsical tea party with a plush doll, Grandpa seemingly, from Jade's perspective, took his own life. Here's Jade telling the story: GG: i spent years wondering about it! GG: when i was REALLY young, i was sure the doll sitting across from him did it GG: and for a long time i was terrified of the evil blue girl!!! GG: she sort of haunted my childhood and i had trouble sleeping for a long time GG: but of course i got older and realized that was silly, but then i just speculated that maybe it was suicide GG: which was just a really sad thing to think about!!!

Understatement of the century. This moment shaped Jade's entire psychology. Those who have lost loved ones to suicide often report wrestling with a mixture of grief and anger: anger that they were left to pick up the aftermath. For Jade, this was a moment of abandonment. Her guardian, who should have been there to take care of her, took his life and left her alone on a deserted island with only her (admittedly magic) dog to help her survive. For years, she had to take care of herself, to serve as her own guardian in his absence. Grandpa should have been there, but he wasn't. The culmination of the "increasing stakes" of the Beta kids' guardians is that Jade's guardian is dead and gone.

The scene of Jade squaring off against her stuffed Grandpa in the foyer is thus, like many elements of Hussie's writing, played for both comedy and horror at once, a true Hussnasty grotesque. For some time, Hussie builds up the mystery of Jade's guardian (using, I think, Dave’s remarks and Grandpa’s weirdness to build a sense of unease), only to shock the reader with an ugly revelation that carries echoes of horror-movie jump-scares. The man in the foyer is no man, but a symbol of death, a skeleton, a mummy, a rotting corpse in the place where a protector should be.

Grandpa's fatal flaw is absence itself.

[This is maybe the psychological motif mmmmmalo's picking up on? I feel like you could very easily read Jade’s feelings of horror and disgust as an echo of this suicide, and thus see Lord English as a mythic echo of Grandpa's absence as much as his presence. That’s my take, anyway.]

Hence Jade's anger in the foyer. He has left her alone, forced her to take up the responsibilities he failed to uphold. She pretends he's alive and imagines him chiding her for not being prepared to face the wilds alone--a situation she knows he put her in. Hence her snapping back at the corpse that she's already perfectly prepared, thank you very much. The scene mixes nostalgia, grief and anger in the saddest way.

This fits with the way Grandpa is themed around DEATH. Not only is he a mounted corpse, his collections of knights, mummies, big game, and degraded beauty shop photos evoke history and the dead, echoing his undead presence in Jade's life. (They also suggest he carries memories of Jake's friends: an orange knight, a pink girl from a land of pyramids, and a blue beauty, furthering the connections between Grandpa and Jake.)

But Grandpa, like Jake, is also themed around FANTASY. Or ESCAPISM, perhaps. Grandpa lives the life of a millionaire explorer-physicist, the boy howdy rough-and-tumble existence that never existed out of Boys' Adventure Comics and Teddy Roosevelt. His trophies and relics suggest a life of constant fantasizing, a retreat into his own self-image to avoid facing the world. After all, if you move to a deserted island in the middle of nowhere, you never have to interact with anyone else. This is astoundingly consistent with what we know of Jake's flaws: he constructs narratives to hide from responsibility and his own mistakes, from ignoring Jane's anger to ignoring the unaddressed issues in his relationship with Dirk to ignoring Jane's romantic interest in him the moment he finds a convenient excuse to do what he wanted to do anyway. Grandpa seems to be cast in very much the same mode, and his whimsical relics further the theme.

For Jade, though, Grandpa's ESCAPISM has also been harmful. Because Grandpa left her what must have seemed the ultimate moment of escapism: a tea party with a stuffed blue doll. Think of what Jade must have thought later: that Grandpa went out lost in daydreaming about a beautiful blue girl. That maybe he planned that as a way to end it all. Her anger is fueled in part by the fact that he ran away from the responsibility of raising her, into his fantasy world instead.

Of course, as readers we know that's not true: Tavros was the one who, through Bec, shot the gun. But there's a grain of truth in Jade's perception of the situation: while not suicidal, Grandpa was being irresponsible. Lost in his silly tea party, he missed the fact that his granddaughter was about to shoot herself with a flintlock pistol. She was saved by Tavros's redirection, while he paid the ultimate price for his distraction.

So Grandpa's flaw, like Jake's, is one of absence and escapist irresponsibility, death and fantasy. Grandpa really did harm her by his absence. And in his absence, all he left her with was necessity.

Jade takes care of herself, because what else can she do? She feeds the dog. She does what she needs to do to survive. She goes about her day. She defines herself in opposition to her grandfather: if he was irresponsible, she will be responsible. She will do what's necessary, no matter what it takes.

And she represses the fuck out of her grief.

This is way buried for most of the time we know Jade, but it comes to the surface when we meet Jadesprite. See, in addition to having a reminder of her Grandfather's mortality, Jade has spent her life face to face with her own. Her dreamself, which represents the one place in her life where she let herself go along with fantasy and escapism, is already a stuffed corpse. Consciously or subconsciously, she knows that happy escapist world will also die. When she prototypes that body, though, she's acting out of responsibility and necessity as part of an effort to defeat the threat of Jack Noir. She expects that a version of herself will share that desire.

But Jadesprite presents what is to her the most nightmarish possibility: that she might prefer living in the fantasy to responsibility. She tries to comfort her alt-self at first, but quickly becomes disgusted that a version of herself could feel that way. But it's not surprising: Dream Jade was the only version of herself who could let herself lay down responsibility and necessity and admit to herself the extent of her fear. Unfortunately, this isn't the way Jade would like herself to be. Jadesprite is exactly what she represses. There's a seeming moment of catharsis when Jade and Jadesprite become one, but, as I've noted before, Hussie ultimately suggests that spritefusion isn't enough to fix what Jade struggles with.

None of this is Jade's fault. It's the way she's been shaped by the outside force of her grandfather's death. Her grandfather was flawed, she lives with the consequences, picking up the pieces of the loss, doing things out of necessity.

SBURB recapitulates that tragedy, forcing Jade to reckon with her trauma and her perception of her own relation to it.

The SBURBan Tragedy

Is SBURB evil? I used to see it that way. These days I'm not so sure. Conversations with revolutionaryduelist have shown me that, despite its dangerous side, SBURB is usually presented in a neutral light in canon, more amoral than deliberately cruel. It's a Game that can be put to different purposes. RD argues that SBURB is ultimately little more than an extension of its players' wills, and I find a lot of reasons to agree.

As I've argued before (particularly in my Self Pile Essay, though my feelings have evolved since), I strongly feel that the ending of Homestuck relies on a critique of SBURB, that it depicts the Game as inherently tragic. You wouldn't think this would jive with RD's notion of "do what you will," but I actually think these two perspectives can be easily reconciled. A Game that's an extension of everyone's wills can still have a tragic effect on its players, especially on those who don't realize their own power within the system. I'm sure we can all think of times when the wills of others were an oppressive force in our lives. Our critique of SBURB, then, is really a critique of the uses to which the Game has been put, by overpowering wills like that of Caliborn/Lord English, who makes the alpha timeline bend to him without realizing how much it echoes his own limitations.

Like Grandpa Harley, Lord English (the unseen conductor whose riddle is absence itself) forces others to reckon with the implications of his choices. The complex web of time loops and paradoxes LE leaves in his wake forces our heroes to act out of necessity and to take responsibility for their escape.

So while I might talk about SBURB in negative terms here, understand I'm talking about the mess of all the loops, all the implications of the many harmful wills and choices our kids have to deal with. Jade in some ways most of all.

Initially, Jade experiences SBURB as a positive force in her life. It allows her freedom and happiness; companionship among the people of Prospit while in her most optimistic, worry-free mindset. She participates in its necessities, its enforced time loops, not out of obligation but in connection to her dreaming happiness.

As the kids' game goes on, though, Jade loses Prospit and her dreamself, and loses, too, the easy release from herself that they represent. Like all the kids, she becomes aware of the threat of Jack Noir, and directs her responsible mind towards the necessity of dealing with him--leading of course, to her clash with Jadesprite. Later, this focus shifts to take in the true cause of everything that went wrong in their session: the unseen guiding hand of Lord English.

We all know what happens to Jade because of this. In the original timeline, all our kids' efforts fail, and all of them die in the events of Game Over, Jade first and most surprisingly. John retcons the timeline using his retcon powers, and achieves victory by changing the course of events. However, it's a victory that causes Jade to suffer deeply: in the final timeline, she loses and grieves John and Davesprite, her closest friends on the Battleship voyage, and for a time wonders if she was responsible for their horrifying, baffling death. Later, she learns from a mysterious sentinel (Alt-Calliope) that it was all part of a larger plan. This is a relief to her, but as much as she'd like it to, it doesn't erase her grief.

This is brutally, totally unfair. And that's the point.

I've seen folks point out that the retcon could have gone many other ways: for instance, merging the populations of the meteor and the battleship. That's true, but it misses the point a little, I think. The Retcon is an arbitrary solution to a large problem in Paradox Space, acting out of necessity to bring Caliborn's will to a close. Remember that John didn't choose how his retcon would go: he worked it out with the Game itself through his Denizen. Not only did the Game bring forth the very tools to end Caliborn and close his time loop, finishing what his will started, it also worked out the logistics of the timeline that would get them there. And that's the tragedy.

John had only the vaguest idea how his actions would affect Jade, knowing only that either he would die or people would grieve him. By working with his Denizen, he mastered his powers and managed to create a reality where everyone could escape the will of Lord English. But it created an awful situation for Jade, and indeed, he's horrified when he finds out that was the result.

For me, the victory our kids experience over Lord English and his will as manifest in SBURB isn't presented as an unambiguous one. Rather, it's triumph mixed with shades of tragedy. John's reformulation of reality has consequences. The loss of our kids' coherency of self (see the Self Pile) is one of them--I do think it's meant to be at least a little disconcerting that it's new versions of our beloved characters who get the victory. And it's Jade who represents that tragic element the most, because she suffers the brunt of it. The fact that Jade suffers because of the Retcon tells us that for all the positivity of the final scenes of Homestuck, there's still a dark side to the system of SBURB.

Because there was never any point at which any of this took place outside the system of SBURB. It gave Caliborn what he wanted, and then took it back again, not because it had any intentions towards him, but because his will was self-defeating and self-limited. And through the Denizens, it gave our kids the escape they wanted: but they still had to deal with the necessity of responding to Caliborn's intentions, and perhaps SBURB'S own limitations, too. It could give them an escape, but not without certain consequences.

It's no coincidence that Denizens make a resurgence near the end of Homestuck. They are the Game's way of engaging in dialogue with its players, and they preside over every aspect of everyone's ending. Yaldabaoth gives Caliborn his deal, while Echidna signs off on the birth of the Genesis Frog once she's had a chance to inspect its guardians. Echidna is also the one who guides Alt-Calliope towards ending Caliborn's reign. And Typheus lets John become a retcon master so that he can win his friends their complicated victory.

Thinking about this has helped me make sense of a scene that initially baffled me. Near the end of Collide, the story turns absurdly positive: our kids win victory after victory over every opponent they were facing. And then, suddenly, disconcertingly, the scene begins to fade out and flash with static, while strange cries are heard. Then it freezes, and the mechanical contrivance that Hussie once used to represent Homestuck's Acts and narrative is all we can see, frozen in black and white.

Those strange sounds are the sounds that played in scenes with Denizens. And not just any Denizen: the specific whale-song we hear is the voice of Typheus, the Denizen who helped John negotiate his retcon and who, through blowing up a duplicate John and Davesprite on LOWAS, is the most directly responsible for Jade's suffering.

The message of the end of Collide, then, brought spectacularly home by this juxtaposition of victory poses and sudden distance, is that the victory achieved, while real, was negotiated by the systems of SBURB and Skaia every step of the way. This, too, is the message of the Spirograph that suddenly appears at the end of Act 7: our kids have left the Game for good, but the Game goes on without them, and always will.

Jade's experiences show what the costs of that might be.

The Gnostic Triumph of Jade Harley, Witch of Space

And yet.

Jade also achieves victory. An even more powerful victory, in fact. In a deeply Gnostic moment, she confronts the arbitrary suffering of SBURB in a way none of the other kids ever do. She directly confronts the Game, and the cruel intentions unleashed through it by Lord English, by moving beyond them altogether and claiming her own agency.

It's Davepeta who helps her see it.

Once, Jade thought she was responsible for her friends' deaths. Later she learned from Alt-Calliope it happened as part of SBURB's cosmic plan. She was able to take some comfort in that: but it didn't keep her from her grief. When she meets Alt-Calliope again, Jade continues to try to make sense of her experiences through the lens of necessity, through the lens of a responsibility she has to fulfil.

Let's look closely at the difference between what Calliope says about the Space role, and how Jade interprets it for herself.

CALLIOPE: why the hurry? CALLIOPE: you have already proven your heroism in the moments when it was needed most. CALLIOPE: it is important to know when the greatest good is best served by remaining dormant. CALLIOPE: whether that burden is for close to eternity, or only a few more minutes. CALLIOPE: it is something to learn as a space player. CALLIOPE: space falls back. it yields. hosts the play silently. CALLIOPE: then, it roars to life when its time comes, showing all who is really the master. CALLIOPE: and so too when the time comes, it collapses in on itself, taking all else with it.

Calliope argues that Space is about patience, that patience itself is heroic. But Jade interprets this to mean that loneliness and suffering are a cross she must bear. As she says shortly afterward:

JADE: as a space player... someone who "falls back" as she said JADE: maybe being pushed aside by fate, and like JADE: being deprived of important people and experiences JADE: no matter how painful it is, or how much you feel like you need them JADE: i guess thats just how it goes for us JADE: i think i never appreciated how much of a burden your aspect was to you JADE: but i think im starting to get it now JADE: it just took a long time to figure out what mine really meant

But that's not what Calliope is saying. Alt-Calliope is talking about Space, to be sure, but she's talking about it in terms of her own role. Alt-Calliope is a very different person from Jade, one who is entirely comfortable with placing her identity and agency in the hands of necessity, with sacrificing everything for necessity. But what works for Alt-Calliope won't work for Jade. Jade needs friendships, needs her own life and happiness outside the Game in a way Alt-Calliope does not. (And a Muse of Space is a very different creature than a Witch of Space, a much more active and self-oriented role.)

And Calliope knows this, too. While she teaches Jade about her own understanding of Space, she doesn't ask that Jade follow her into the Green Sun, nor does she ask that Jade construct her life in the same exact terms. Again, it's Jade, not Calliope, who tries to suggest that losing all her friends is her Space-y burden to bear. Calliope, however, reminds Jade that they're very different creatures, and need different things:

CALLIOPE: you are still quite young, and your kind is soft. CALLIOPE: the ability to absolutely dominate is better housed in a being designed for seclusion, singularity of purpose, and remorseless resolve. CALLIOPE: it is too much for one like you.

(And here the domination Calliope's talking about isn't just Lord English's, but her own Muse of Space response to that domination, the reshaping of Paradox Space by falling back and then roaring to life.)

Calliope suggests that Jade might choose to go along with the sleep that keeps her from being a danger in the final fight, but she doesn't require it. Instead, she says:

CALLIOPE: if you must have advice, i will give you some similar to that i gave your other space-playing friend. CALLIOPE: i told her to live, where before she had not. CALLIOPE: so too, you are similarly imprisoned by various inertias. CALLIOPE: these weigh on you. CALLIOPE: you are a child, belonging to a race for which that distinction is understood to correspond with experiences of "enjoyment." CALLIOPE: perhaps you should try to have, CALLIOPE: "fun."

Calliope doesn't need what Jade needs. But she knows Jade is more than a means to an end. Jade needs fun, she needs friendship, and she needs happiness. Even though Calliope sees advantage in Jade remaining asleep, she goes out of her way to tell her about the alternate possibilities that might free her from imprisoning inertias.

This leaves Jade somewhat confused. She wants to make sense of her life in terms of the mandates and loops of SBURB/Lord English, fulfilling every necessity. But Calliope rejects that notion for Jade and emphasizes the difference between their species.

So when Davepeta comes along, Jade is wrestling with the strangeness of the Calliope encounter.

JADE: calliope said i was too strong or something JADE: but she also said i should have "fun" so JADE: i dunno JADE: i guess im just waiting around for the right moment

She's trying to make sense of Calliope's offer while still trying to see herself in terms of necessity. Davepeta, though, rejects that completely. When Jade tells them her statement above, trying to describe herself in terms of someone who "has to" be pushed around by the rules of Space, Davepeta responds extremely skeptically:

DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < so THATS what space means? DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < bein lonely??

Note the incredulous extra question mark. Jade continues to try to describe herself as someone who has to follow the mandates of others and systems outside her control. And yet as she talks about it, she reveals how dissatisfied she is with that notion of herself:

JADE: but i think that can be one of the results of gaining a deeper understanding of it JADE: or becoming connected to it more... JADE: i dunno, this stuff is all pretty mysterious :p JADE: i dont have it all figured out yet obviously JADE: i just feel pretty sad that as i get closer to understanding my abilities and true nature JADE: it apparently means being deprived of some important experiences JADE: like i get closer to my aspect, but further away from everyone i love, and further from... JADE: feeling like a person? JADE: its just a really empty feeling after a while JADE: empty like... JADE: space i guess JADE: heh

I don't think we're to take this as an absolute statement. While there's truth in Calliope's depiction of space as receptive and patient. I think we're to take these lines as Jade wrestling with her own feelings about the way she should be. Davepeta doesn't argue that Jade should accept this description of herself. Instead, Davepeta opens up a startling alternate possibility: that Jade is more than necessity, bigger than her circumstances, larger than her suffering. If Jade's suffering is an echo of the arbitrary unfairness of the way SBURB divides up our protagonists' selves to bring Lord English to an end, then Davepeta suggests that the key to escaping suffering is to see the self beyond those individual identities:

DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < but you werent actually deprived of important experiences DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < stuff like us dating and johns stupid birthday parties and playing shitty ghostbuster mmos DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < that stuff all happened to you, its just you dont have access to the memories DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < they didnt happen to shape this particular version of yourself DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < but they all played a role in helping like "greater jade" grow if that makes sense DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < everything that ever happens to every version of you is an important part of your ultimate self... like a superceding bodyless and timeless persona that crosses the boundaries of paradox space and unlike god tiers or bubble ghosts or whatever, it really IS immortal DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < but in your physical form there are all these partitions in your mind that prevent you from remembering any of that which makes your existence f33l totally linear DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < which is probably for the best! DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < in a regular body s33ing all that would be too overwhelming DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < in an advanced sprite form like mine tho its fine DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < i guess the same spritey magic that makes it possible to suddenly understand so much is also what makes it possible to make it bearable all at once DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < not even just bearable actually sorta liberating and cool DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < and after it sinks in for a while you start coming to this understanding of a greater self

AVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < im not COMPLETELY sure because im not like some sort of ASPECT MASTER but DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < my avian slash feline intuition tells me that all roads will lead you here eventually DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < gaining the d33pest possible understanding of any aspect will bring you to the same final conclusion about your ultimate self DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < so maybe thats starting to happen for you too DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < the space aspect sounds like a hard and lonely road to travel... i think they probably all are DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < but youre gettin there jade DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < you are doing great and im so proud of you!

Once again, this isn't Davepeta saying that Jade needs to be happy about what's happened to her--they acknowledge that living in SBURB is painful, a hard and lonely road for anyone of any aspect. But seeing oneself as this "ultimate self" allows one to see a bigger picture, to find meaning in one's actions even when buffeted by what seems to be the cruelty of fate. In a Game whose tragedy is that divides people up into different manifestations of themselves, each going to an arbitrary fate, that's the way to find victory, to find happiness beyond each tragedy. That's the balance that Homestuck's ending is deeply concerned with, and Jade Harley represents it all: both the suffering and the remedy.

Davepeta's proud of her for coming this far. I'm proud of her, too.

But does this understanding work for Jade? Does it free her from the way she saw herself as an instrument of fate, a tool of necessity? I think it does. Because after talking with Davepeta, Jade starts to live her life differently.

We see this clearly in Collide and the events leading up to Collide. Jade was ready to accept that she had to stay asleep merely because it was what others expected of her. But Davepeta convinces her that she should wake up if she wants to wake up:

JADE: i guess im just waiting around for the right moment DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < nah thats dumb DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < you should be able to do whatever you want JADE: really? DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < well at least she was right about the having fun part DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < maybe thats what she meant?? DAVEPETASPRITE^2: B33 < maybe she was leaving it up to you in a mysterious way JADE: leaving what up to me? JADE: the decision to wake up?

Davepeta's message to Jade, informed by their deep understanding of life beyond one lifetime, is that Jade can do things for herself, rather than do them as a reaction to necessity. And the secret is that that choice makes all the difference.

Jade does choose to wake up, and after waking up, rejects any idea that she should go back to following necessity, or other people’s commands:

DAVE: jade DAVE: god dammit DAVE: GO BACK TO SLEEP! JADE: NO WAY!!!!! :P

JADE: i am very much awake! JADE: and i intend to stay that way :)

Jade chooses to take Calliope up on her offer: she chooses to go have fun. For the first time, she pursues her goals completely and utterly for her own reasons. She chooses to take on the mission of dealing with the Omnidogs Bec Noir and PM...pretty much because she wants to. And she does it in her own way: she doesn't get in a fight, but plays with her dogs, recreating the fun times in her life with Bec by warping around and dancing around in the sky with them.

While she ends up getting punched out by PM, it's mostly comic: she isn't hurt or upset--she had a fun time, and did what she wanted to do. She's asserting her own agency, not responding to the will of anyone else, be it Lord English, Dave, John, or any of the other players. She takes on SBURB's boss mechanics in her own terms and enjoys herself doing it. And what she's able to achieve by this is *reshaping the rules of the Game.* Because of her, PM beats Bec Noir. For the first time in the known history of SBURB, White beats Black, Prospit beats Derse, entirely thanks to her presence. This change is subtle but huge. It represents what Jade's doing on a cosmic level: she's creating the Game, creating her reality, for herself, not responding to anyone else's intention, but putting forth her own to shape the world.

The Gnostics of ancient times said that the material world we lived in was merely an illusion created by the tyrant Yaldabaoth, and that all we needed to do to escape his tyranny was to look within ourselves. Because we were made of the same stuff as the True God, filled with the same wisdom as Sophia, and if we could truly know ourselves, could know exactly who we were, we could walk back through the gates into the Garden of Eden, knowing that we were God, part of a true divine reality bigger than anything Yaldabaoth could understand.

So, too, does Jade Harley, GardenGnostic, in that moment, know that she is bigger than anything that once defined her. Not her grandfather's death and failings, not her role as a link in the prophecies of Skaia, not Jack Noir, and not the limitations of a single Jade in a tragic timeline. None of those things define her. She is greater still, the JADE beyond Jades, and she has just as much power to make SBURB, to make all of Paradox Space what she wants it to be as any would-be tyrant. She stares Lord English in the eye, and knows she is as great within this contest of wills as he is. They all are.

And that makes Jade a little bit different from her fellow gods: she knows in full what the rest of them are only beginning to understand.

When we next see Jade after Act 7, in the Credits sequence, we see her growing plants again after a long time away from her garden, returning to her own personal Eden, and we see her spending time with John, Dave, and Karkat--all the people that she loves.

Knowing who she is, she has escaped all the inertias that once bound her, and is turning reality into what she wants it to be.

In the world of SBURB, that's the way to find a happy ending.

[Next time: Maybe I’ll do that reception of the ending thing I promised last time? Or maybe not? Maybe I’ll be too busy playing Hiveswap? Maybe life is full of infinite delicious possibilities, and we’re all riding this magic train out to the Pleroma together? Who knows, man. Who knows.]

#jade harley #grandpa harley #homestuck analysis #jake english #homestuck #off-the-cuff homestuck thoughts extravaganza 2017 #gnostic influences #gnostic themes #alt calliope #space aspect #freedom to live #THE ULTIMATE SELF #homestuck ending #understanding homestuck #suicide cw #csa mention

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track-three · 7 years ago

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master feels after the finale

(i had a big, pan-episode writeup dealing with my dear child twelve, but the internet crashed and tumblr ate it, so, let’s just get to the nitty gritty)

this episode was, ultimately, the biggest mixed bag for me, not mixed bag as in, i feel somewhere in the middle about it, but that there were bits i desperately loved and were as good as doctor who could possibly be, and bits that really made me cringe and retcon them in my head.

so i’ll start with the good - the very, very good: the master working with themselves. hurting the doctor where he’s most vulnerable; his companions, his faith, his desperate hope that he might finally have his friend back. that first 10 minutes, where i honestly shivered and felt that this was the meatiest little segment i’ve seen in some time: the doctor, no cards left to play…both masters, murdering his friend, taunting him, then...making out with themselves? i mean, wow. that’s peak horrible. that’s kind of peak master there. but i wanted to see the conflict in that. i wanted to see the doctor’s hurt, more than just 2 lines about bill…i wanted to see how that flat-out cruelty impacted his faith, his belief in the master, i wanted to see him struggle to fight for what was “right”. his belief in the master felt far too easy after that, and i think not following through with the emotional consequences of those first 5-10 minutes...well, it took a lot of the power out of the “redemption” arc, that had been so nicely set up! simm!master’s character was, well, interesting. i do feel like he was a little under-done in terms of depth; ok, ok, i mean - roast me - i know rtd’s simm was a yelly maniac...but i feel like he had a lot more dynamic range. moffat’s simm seems to have two modes only: comic relief, and rampant, indiscriminate cruelty.

and that to me felt very inauthentic, it felt like it was sort of reducing him to a catchphrase. kinda how i felt about ten in day of the doctor but shh that’s for another post i did love the humour, honestly, i adored how cheerful and light this master was. but he seemed to lack a lot of the fury, the pain, the insecurity he did in rtd’s run. i can’t imagine seeing moffat’s master tear up, the way we saw rtd’s. he is just too cold.

that really leads me on to the second lil criticism i have - yes, the master is cruel. very cruel, actually. he’s done some of the worst things this franchise has seen. but there is one thing that defines his cruelty: it’s for the sole sake of getting to the doctor. yeah, he’s gleeful and certainly gets off on causing pain to others...because he knows this is a weapon the doctor is almost powerless against! his conscience, his guilt, his insistence to care for the little person, his refusal to accept collateral damage; the master can turn them all against him, can make the doctor crumple, with one well-placed strike. the master treats those things as weaknesses, faults - he doesn’t understand those qualities and wants to make the doctor see, like he sees, that they’re only holding him back. that’s why he hurts him. he loves the doctor - but he hates him - but he loves him. he wants the doctor to realise they’re not so different, after all. he wants to punish the doctor for being the things he cannot.

i do feel that in making simm utterly remorseless...or, i guess, indiscriminately remorseless is probably more my issue, and interspersing it with some of the best comedy this season has seen, it cut out a lot of that depth. there were some shockingly dark and meaty moments with simm, but man, without the hate and the pain and contempt behind them, they just felt cold. bit too cold.

but, honestly, he wasn’t the only master who suffered from Not Quite Enough Nuance. i felt that after spending the whole season fleshing out this redemption arc, and michelle’s utterly stunning performance - because she played it totally ambiguous as to what the master was actually feeling, and where she stood - i...didn’t ultimately understand her choice. i wanted to understand it, i wanted to believe it, but one speech didn’t really sell it for me! i mean. oh my god, was it an amazing speech. but i can’t believe that the reason the master, finally, chooses to fight with the doctor is “because he’s right”. of all the reasons, that one is the least believable to me. it undermines their friendship, their love. “because he’s my friend” would have been a...far more epic development, i personally think, and i feel a little snubbed by it all.

i do think that if this episode hadn’t tried to do so MUCH in one go, and had pared itself right down to master/master/doctor/cybermen + oh shit, bill, and not done the children, and the nardole/lady love plot, and the doctor’s regeneration, and the companions coming back, and heather, and the first doctor....! well, yeah. it was a lot, and i feel that the master’s story would have been more fleshed out if it was allowed to be the main plot of this finale. i think world enough and time worked better as an episode for this reason.

(not to say, oh my god, that i didn’t die during all of the regeneration/heather/one stuff. you bet i did. and i loved it. buuut i just sort of think that was a 3-parter, not a 2-parter in there.)

in terms of what they chose to do...well, i liked the concept. i think the actions are very believably master. thing is, though...we’ve established that the master would definitely rather die, than let the doctor, somehow, beat them. and the story 100% paid respect to that. but i felt that the finality of that story really sort of sat weirdly with me. ok, hear me out: ending simm’s regeneration by his other self murdering him? i can get behind that. ending the master’s ENTIRE life by his other self murdering him - no, i really can’t. to sell this entire story as really, an ending for the master’s arc in general, feels very...oh, i don’t know, it feels like cutting the character short. i think ending the master with a redemption arc does not quite do justice to the whole point of the doctor and the master. their relationship is just not as simple as good and evil, and i resent it being taken down to that.

in the end, what was that segment trying to show us? i believe it was trying to show us the entire, core conflict that will always end in tragedy for the doctor and the master: they both want to be with each other so very much, and they could never live with themselves, either one of them, if they did. and i honestly believe that the beauty and sadness and inevitability of that could have been done without making both masters kill each other.

that said. oh, i do love the bit where they laughed themselves silly. that was gorgeous. that was so them: backstab each other, and forgive in the same breath. that whole scene was so them. i’d accept all of it wholeheartedly, if it wasn’t treated as such a final resting place, a denouement for the master as a person.

i think this is representative of a larger moffat problem, which i’m going to touch on because i want to: moffat always seems to need to leave his “mark” on established events?? you know - the TARDIS noise is “leaving the brakes on”. the doctor’s real name, dealt with about 5 times in his run alone. he undoes the time war. he creates his own classic doctor instead of celebrating the existing ones. he takes ownership of the 13-regeneration-limit...even when the doctor is technically only strictly on number 12 (13?). he re-does the genesis of the daleks, just to have his own prints on it. there’s lots of other stuff too, but this kind of reeks of it to me...he has to have the final say on lots of doctor who canon, and he’s had his final say on the master. and i simply don’t agree.

the good thing about treating some things as sacrosanct (eg, the TARDIS, the Doctor’s name, etc) is that it allows all of us to form our own interpretations, and yeah. i do wish that this vision hadn’t been treated as the only answer to the master’s arc.

oh. and because i haven’t touched on it: i’m so here for the master flirting with themselves. blatantly. but you know, it sucks that we have simm/gomez, gomez/twelve, and the sexuality knob has been turned up as far as it can without breaking the rating on those...but we still can’t display m/m doctor/master. and i think that’s just really sad.

(HI FIVE FOR BILL/HEATHER THOUGH.)

p.s. i’m also so here for the eyeliner. i mean....the master putting on eyeliner. on camera. welcome to the future, goddamn.

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wrightworthmakesmylifeworthwhile · 7 years ago

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fantasy au preview

here’s that thing i said i would do

Dark green hills rolled along at a leisurely pace until they made met with a babbling crystal creek. The stream poured out of the mouth of a small bridge and leapt down from craggy rock to craggy rock until it pooled at the base of the stone outcropping. Running water laboriously turned a large wooden waterwheel that powered a secluded mill.

The mill was a clumsy little lean-to nestled on the border of a wild forest. Ivy crept up the sides and entangled itself around the rock all the way up to the thatched roof of the cheerful house. Despite its abandoned countenance, smoke plumed from the chimney. Looking through the windows a fire could be seen crackling.

Inside, Phoenix Wright knelt by the fire. His hand was in the middle of the bright flames, but it didn’t seem to be causing him any pain. He frowned in concentration, turning something over. A moment later, his hands emerged from the fire completely unharmed, brandishing perfectly cooked loaf of bread.

The fire mage set the steaming loaf on a wooden table. Humming pleasantly, he dusted the bread off with sugar and cinnamon before deeming it finished.

She’s going to love it! Phoenix thought as he packed his still-burning-hot creation into a little basket. His hand went to the little blue bottle hanging around his neck. A shimmery, misty substance swam in the bottle that hung on a golden chain. Two golden arches met at the top of the bottle, forming a heart.

The pendant was a token of his true love. They had been courting for one month exactly, and Phoenix had to celebrate. He took the basket and left his house, taking the stairs down two at a time.

Dahlia lived on the far side of the forest. Phoenix took the time to enjoy his stroll through the woods, never tiring of its familiar sights. Sunlight shone through tree trunks, casting dappled patterns over the lush grass and dusky purple flowers.

Although the grove was beguilingly pretty, Phoenix knew better than to try and take any shortcuts. Potentially dangerous creatures lay in the depths of the forest. It was common knowledge to the area to stay on the enchanted main path for guaranteed safe travel.

That was why it was so strange when he spotted four people standing about twenty feet off the path ahead. Two among their company were quite small, likely children. The tiniest one looked no older than six, and she tightly clutched the older child’s hand. Like Phoenix, all four of them wore the hooded cloaks of mages. Unlike Phoenix, the strangers kept the hoods up, obscuring their faces.

The baker hoisted his basket closer. I should’ve remembered to bring my spellbook along with me…

Mages were generally cordial, if not exactly friendly towards each other, but it was unusual to come across them in groups. This could mean bad news.

One of the strangers, probably the leader, carried a tall, arched staff with a purple stone at the helm. They signaled for the rest of the company to approach Phoenix.

Well, too late now. They’d already spotted him.

They hovered a few feet away from the main path, frustratingly far enough that Phoenix still couldn’t discern any of their facial features.

“Enjoying your walk in the woods?” The leader said, her voice ringing clearly throughout the grove.

“Yeah! ...But, um, be careful, though. This place is pretty safe, but if you don’t want any trouble, you should stick to the path.”

“We want trouble, alright,” the other adult in the group piped up. Her voice sounded younger and more headstrong. “But not with you. Unless you’re going to give us reason.”

“Mia,” the leader shushed the younger woman. “No need for that.”

“I’m not going give you trouble!” Phoenix said, indignant.

“You’d better not! If you did...” A smaller mage with strange beads in her hair mimed throwing a punch.

Phoenix gulped. “Um, what kind of trouble are you even looking for, anyway?”

“That’s none of your busine-”

Mia was cut off by the leader, again.

“Perhaps you’ll recognize this?” The leader gestured at her cloak.

Her cloak, as well as the other three’s cloaks, were all pinned together with a large, smooth stone. Every one of them was a different color, but each were shaped into a crescent with a hole bore into the middle. It was unmistakably the Magatama, the marking of the Fey clan.

The Feys were very well known as some of the most powerful, mysterious mages all over the kingdom. Some regarded them as guardians of the Realm, celebrated fighters and Seers. Darker rumors abounded that they were terrible witches that practiced necromancy. Despite that suspicion, they seem to had won the trust of the King himself, for he frequently consorted with the clan.

Phoenix took a step back, awed and kind of afraid. He had never met a Fey, nor had he ever expected to. They were as elusive as most magical beasts, which only encouraged the many, many rumors about them.

“Wh-What’s the Fey clan doing here?”

This is more serious than I thought.

“We’re looking for someone,” Mia said gravelly. “We’ve tracked her here.”

“It’s probably nothing to worry about,” the leader soothed. “We’ll be in the area keeping an eye on things. But, as a request from one mage to another, please tell us if you witness any strange activity, alright?”

Phoenix’s heart fluttered nervously.

“...Of course.”

Phoenix arrived at Dahlia’s house a fair bit later than he desired.

From her porch, she spotted him and rushed over. Seeing her beautiful face, all his worries from the meeting the Feys melted away. Dollie was all that mattered, ever. Phoenix caught her in a hug.

“Dollie!” He greeted his lover eagerly. “I’m so glad to see you!”

“It’s so nice to see you too, Feenie,” Dahlia said, letting him twirl her around.

Phoenix beamed. He set her down and revealed his basket. “I brought something for you!”

“Did you?”

“Uh-huh,” the baker chirped. “It’s for our anniversary.”

Phoenix swore he saw her face scrunch into a frown, but it passed so fast that he must have imagined it.

“Anniversary?”

“We’ve been dating for a whole month now!”

“Oh, of course!” Dahlia’s laugh was like the tinkling of pretty bells. “How silly of me.”

“I baked you this,” he presented the basket proudly. “It took me ages to afford the sugar, but I did it for you, Dollie!”

“How sweet,” she cooed, accepting the basket. “Though, um, if it’s not too much trouble… can I ask you to do one more teensy-weensy little thing for me, Feenie?”

“Anything!”

Dahlia turned to face the him and suddenly Phoenix was faced with a world full of her pleading, lovely brown eyes. “I know I’ve asked before, but could I please, please have that pendant back? As a special gift for today?”

Phoenix faltered. His hand sought out the tiny bottle hanging around his neck. “Aww, but this is my token of affection from you. I could never give it up!”

“I can give you another token!” Dahlia said.

“I like it,” Phoenix protested.

Her head drooped. “Feenie, please. It’s what I want more than anything else in the world… You want this to be a good anniversary, don’t you?”

Phoenix couldn’t bear to see her looking so sad. “Um. You’d really give me another token?”

“Absolutely! I’ve been working on something for you much better than that old thing...”

“Well… if it’ll make you happy...”

Phoenix reluctantly fished out the pendant, and handed it over to Dahlia. In that moment, everything changed.

Kissh!

The misty substance violently ripped free of its confines, cracking the glass. It then soared into the air and plunged deep into Dahlia’s breast. A fierce wind whipped the trees around them into a frenzy. The howling gale was strong enough to send both of them flying.

On the far side of the clearing, Dahlia lay crumpled in a heap. Her red hair whirled wildly about her like a fiery storm.

Phoenix clambered to his feet and rushed towards her, “D-Dollie! Are you okay?”

Dahlia’s head jerked up, and suddenly she no longer seemed so fair. Her delicate features were contorted into a sneer and her pupils were blown dark. The baker faltered.

“...Dollie?”

She was up and on him in a flash. Startled, Phoenix fired sparks at her, not wanting to hurt her. Dahlia dodged his feeble attacks easily, countering his blows with a much more powerful stream of magic.

Wh-What? You can cast spells?

Terrified, Phoenix stumbled backwards, hurling miniature fireballs at Dahlia. The baker wished for the second time that day that he had thought to bring his spellbook with him. Without a magical artifact as a conduit for his spells, his attacks were scattered and weak.

The relentless maiden sent three more streaks of freezing blue sorcery that Phoenix dropped to the ground to avoid.

“Dollie, stop! Why are you doing this?” The baker begged.

Dahlia was gaining on him. In a last-ditch effort to win the duel, Phoenix waved his hands in front of him in an arc, creating a thick barrier of fire that careened out to meet her. She swooped left just in time, the attack singeing the sleeve of her dress. Nothing was enough.

The baker stood up and turned to flee. He was tackled and pinned by Dahlia. No amount of struggling would dislodge her. Phoenix stared helplessly up into the face of his lover.

“...You really are pathetic, you know,” Dahlia spat. “A promising fire mage like you, and you choose to become a baker instead? No wonder you can’t best me.”

Embarrassingly, Phoenix whimpered. Cheeks burning with shame, he tried to pull away, but Dahlia hooked a cruel finger under his jaw to keep him still.

“And what a worm.” Her voice raised jeeringly to imitate Phoenix. “Dollie, why are you doing this? Dollie, are you alright? Do you ever listen to how spineless you are? Do you seriously think anyone could ever love you?”

She paused to trace her finger along the underside of his chin in thought. “And yet, you did still help me in the end. I suppose I won’t kill you. No, I’ve got something much more amusing in mind...”

Finally, she let Phoenix’s chin drop. She closed her eyes and clutched the pendant, whispering some things in a language the baker didn’t recognize. When she opened her eyes, they glowed unnaturally bright.

Dahlia slammed the broken heart pendant into Phoenix’s chest to seal the spell. He screamed as he felt the metal, super-heated with magical energy, burn through his clothes and into his skin.

Phoenix’s consciousness fled.

#this is just the beginning like prologue so #no wrightworth yet #my writing #thanks for 400 folks #in celebration lemme just fucking die real quick #ace attorney #hmu any feedback if you wanna #long post #personal

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deltaengineering · 8 years ago

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Fall 2016 Season Wrapup, Part 2: The Flip Side

Not to give anything away, but while compiling this post I noticed that alphabetical order is also exactly in descending order of quality. Since that’s not very nice to read, I’ll start with... O.

Occultic;Nine

Oh boy, Occultic;Nine. I should have known that this was going to be painful after its obnoxious first episode, but O;9 has the irritating property of always promising just enough to keep me watching, but barely ever being any good. And then I got to the end and realized I had just finished the worst anime I’ve seen in years. The real tragedy here is that none of this seems to be the result of misfortune, this show is designed from the ground up to be the most nauseating thing imaginable, and they totally pulled it off too. Easily the biggest culprit here is the way that the writing is translated to the screen: The narrative pacing of O;9 is actually okay, but the script adaptation clearly saw the typically bloated LN and thought that all of these words had to be preserved. So about 90% of this show is people talking as fast as they possibly can in either a flat monotone or freakout shrieking, with any space for breathing edited out in postproduction. What are they talking about? As far as I can tell, mostly random shit the author found on Wikipedia. The visual presentation tries to make this stupendous amount of blah interesting, which mostly means cutting to random wacky filmschool angles at sub-second intervals and having the characters jiggle around like they have an epileptic seizure. Speaking of the characters: Half of them are useless and half of the rest is only there to add even more useless exposition, which wouldn’t be a huge problem if any of them were in the least bit likable. But, as usual for the semicolon series, they’re all a bunch of smug nerd assholes. You do what you gotta do to get nine characters together so you can do an insipid title drop, I suppose. I won’t comment much on how sensical the mystery story itself is since at some point I just gave up on following this bullshit, but I do know that the one decent twist it has is in the middle, a lot of the subplots don’t go anywhere and the ending is extra bullshit enabled by an outrageous amount of plot convenience.

The sad part is that it has a bunch of really positive aspects: When it does shut up, it can do some really beautiful, moody scenes, but quiet time in Occultic;Nine is about as rare as action scenes in a cheap fighting shounen. The music’s pretty great, as is the opening and ending. The characters are animated to an almost distressing degree. It even has a bunch of neat ideas, like people being so much up their own ass that they don’t even notice that they’re dead. But somehow the amount of polish wasted on this turd only makes the whole thing even worse. It would be a bad show even if it was watchable; as it is, it’s straight up horrible.

Hibike! Euphonium S2

If it’s polish you want, you can’t beat KyoAni anyway. Euphonium’s second season is not a turd, but it’s a highly polished... nothing? While Euphonium ends up very watchable, the source material is also the culprit here. The sequel has the weird combination of stretching out its drama arcs far too much (in S1 an arc would maybe take one or two episodes, here’s only two major ones in the entire season), and also lacking any sort of filler - while I wasn’t a huge fan of the moe shenanigans in S1 and considered them inoffensive at best, the absence of them here just makes the show incredibly dour, and the amazingly blunt yuribait is also toned down significantly. With Hazuki and Midori mostly gone and Reina only showing up for a brief, not very engaging subplot, Euphonium is now absolutely a show about teenagers taking the one thing their lives inexplicably revolve around (the band competition nationals) far too seriously, which causes an amount of drama war tragedies usually fail to reach. Especially the first arc is just puzzling; it’s about characters we never heard or cared about before and is mainly built out of Kumiko either overhearing people expositing about it by sheer chance, or people spilling their heart to her for no reason. And then it just resolves itself. The second major arc is at least about a character that mattered before, but I never found Asuka very interesting and dropping a tragic backstory on her for purposes of sad doesn’t change that, and doesn’t really relate to her mysterious behavior much either. But at least that arc does something that had eluded Euphonium all this time: It manages to make Kumiko herself moderately interesting. Both of the arcs show that Euphonium is still pretty good at resolving its drama in huge, theatralic scenes, but is very clumsy at setting it up, which is pretty bad when said setup takes 5 episodes. It pretty much says it all when my favorite moment by far is a long, unbroken performance scene, which looks dope but notably does not require any writing whatsoever.

The presentation is still excellent, and KyoAni’s particular gimmick here is striving for maximum realism with a lot of artificial lens and lighting effects combined with unusually naturalistic voice acting, which is nice but raises a big question: If Euphonium was what it’s clearly trying to be (a j-drama), would I have any interest in watching it? And the answer to that is an unambiguous no. Not to mention that realistic presentation doesn’t help much when the scenes in question are either boring or the most stagey, overwritten, “I have prepared a speech for this occasion” monologues imaginable. Overall I can’t say that Euph is bad now, but it just lacks a lot of what I liked about it in S1 and doubles down on aspects I never warmed up to. I can appreciate its expressive character work, but on its own that is not enough for a great show.

Girlish Number

Girlish Number really has one big problem: It can’t decide whether it wants to be cutesy slice of life, farcical satire or legitimate character drama. It swings between these aspects rather freely, but they tend to get in each other’s way much more often than they enhance each other. It has a sizeable cast of cute girls making cute faces, but not enough focus on them for that to be worthwhile. The satire is too one-note to be consistently funny and too shallow to be really incisive - I’m totally down for an anime industry satire, but then you have to bring a little more to the table than “everyone’s just kind of greedy and lazy, I guess”. And the character drama... well, it’s actually pretty good at that. But only when main character Chitose is not involved, since Chitose is far too much of a joke to make me care about her life problems, and unsurprisingly the resolution to her arc swings decidedly in the direction of cynical satire again anyway. In the end, the life lesson everyone learns is “you gotta be a shit to get paid”, which is fine by me but not exactly something you need multiple episodes of angst to set up. I’d happily have watched a character drama about the girls that aren’t total trashcans mugging at the camera, or alternatively a comedy of errors about Chitose. But not both at the same time. Girlish Numbers has its moments and it’s probably worth watching for those, but fails to come together to a form a coherent whole.

Fune wo Amu

I righteously laughed my ass off at Fune wo Amu’s attempts to be profound in its first episode, but in the end my secondary prediction for the show came true: Fune wo Amu is primarily a really good slice-of-life story about somewhat eccentric adults doing an unusual job (editing dictionaries). Like most good anime of this kind, it doesn’t do a lot but gets the details right: The characters are well-written and sympathetic, it does a clever timeskip of 10 years in the middle that saves it from getting repetitive, and its realistic character animation is generally spot-on without falling prey to the filter demon that is consuming KyoAni. There’s really not much else to say here, it’s rarely amazing but it’s a good time. So far so good, but the ridiculous aspect never quite goes away either; it’s not totally the focus of the show like it was in the beginning, but Fune wo Amu is still very, very proud of its “a dictionary is a boat on a sea of words” metaphor and brings it up at every opportunity, and while it may have seemed moderately insightful at the first mention, by the end it becomes abundantly clear that there’s really not much mileage in it. Occasionally hamfisted writing aside, it doesn’t seem to trust the strengths of its material on a visual level either, and tries to spruce it up in very silly ways: Most of the time this comes up, you will indeed be shown a literal sea of words, likely with the characters staring wistfully into it because this shit’s so deep, man. Add to this a few other instances of illustrations of simple concepts that are clearly trying a lot harder than would be necessary and a completely bewildering chibi comedy section in the middle of every episode, and that really puts a big dent into the subtle, robust qualities of the show. The saving grace is when it goes ham it goes all the way ham, and laughing at the bad parts means that it’s still always entertaining. Fune wo Amu is probably the most puzzling combination of ironic camp appeal and genuine quality I’ve ever seen, and while I can’t call a show that’s this flawed truly top tier, I can’t deny that it’s a very fun time.

Flip Flappers

But the clear highlight of Fall is not a flawed mature anime for mature watchers such as myself, but this bizarre animator fever dream. At first Flip Flappers seemed to be Space Dandy without the bad parts, which I would have been plenty fine with, but it soon became apparent that there was more going on here: An Ikuhara-style illustration of puberty anxieties with a big hint of the ol’ gay. And Flip Flappers strikes a particularly good balance between these extremes, it’s very entertaining and straightforward on a surface level while still providing a lot of food for thought, unlike the frequently just plain stupid Dandy or the irritatingly opaque and mannered Yuri Kuma Arashi. It obviously helps that it looks mighty tasty too - while it’s only a sakugafest some of the time, the backgrounds, character designs and art direction are fantastic. Another strength is the show’s tone, which is generally very lighthearted without being overtly comedic, just like I like it. For most of the show’s runtime the combination of fantastic world of the week with the strong throughline of Cocona’s and Papika’s growing friendrelationship keeps things extremely varied without seeming random. Unlike the usual genre shifter show that plays everything for a joke, Flip Flappers is legitimately good at what it does; When it’s doing an action episode, the action is rad, when it does a horror episode it’s spooky, and when it’s doing drama it’s emotional. I’ve also rarely seen a show where I like all the characters down to the bit players this much, and when even the requisite cutesy sidekicks are great, you know you have a strong showing. In the last third, a stronger plot comes to the surface, and while that relatively standard scifi anime plot is not quite as great as what came before, it’s still good and the subtext remains interesting, and while the production values take a minor hit, it’s still a looker. And most importantly, by that point I already loved the show and when you love something, it takes more than a little plot detour to fall out of love. And unlike most of these shows that drop the ball towards the end, the ending ending is really strong and satisfying - Flip Flappers is no Kyousougiga, because it neither nosedives as hard nor relies on the plot as much to make any sense at all. It’s not perfect, but I wasn’t expecting perfection from this leftfield passion project to begin with so it’s all good. Not quite enough to be the best of the year (Rakugo looms large), but easily the best of the season. Highly recommended.

#flip flappers #fune wo amu #the great passage #Girlish Number #Hibike! Euphonium #Occultic;Nine #anime #review #fall2016

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